Patient Stories - Quarter 1 2021/22
Collecting Patient Stories is an important component in understanding how patients’ perceived the health care they have received and how we can improve on the many different aspects of service delivery in our hospitals, and in our community-based health care programs. Patient Stories assist staff in improving the experience for patients and can assist staff through education and reflection.
Here are some patient stories for you to view.
This positive patient story is presented by Philip Weaver, who had a serious accident a few years ago (a fall from height) and after being treated acutely at New Cross Hospital, received some long term rehabilitation both as an inpatient and outpatient, at West Park Hospital. Phil talks about how the staff made him feel safe and well cared for at the time, and reflects on his own desire to return to full time work too soon after the accident. Following advice he settled instead for some voluntary work which he now continues to do within the Trust.
Phil understands how patient may feel who went through the same experience as him, and he encourages patients at West Park Hospital to undertake gentle exercise and rehab activities to gradually get their quality of life back. Phil went through a traumatic and life changing event and reflects that staff in the Trust kept him going with their positive attitude. He felt compelled to volunteer as an alternative to returning to work which unfortunately he hasn’t been able to do yet. However through his volunteering in the Trust he has found that he can help other patients going through similar experiences, and that the holistic journey of acute care, rehab care and volunteering have helped him on his road to recovery.
Phil has worked as volunteer throughout the pandemic providing much needed interaction and support for patients during their rehabilitation. He has worked on both ward 1 and 2 but has found his niche on ward 1 supporting patients living with dementia.
Phil’s story has been heart-warming to staff and patients as it shows how rehabilitation has enabled Phil to return to normal life and that he has used his knowledge of his patient journey to provide encouragement and understanding for patients currently on the same pathway as his.
Well done for those who have cared for Phil and well done Phil.
If you cannot see this video, watch it on YouTube
This patient story is positive and relates to the extraordinary patient journey which Lee Griffiths has been through, where he believes that if it were not for the care he received from the staff he would not be alive today.
Lee’s GP originally diagnosed him with a urine infection, a few days later he was deteriorating and an ambulance was called. Lee was then admitted to the hospital with suspected sepsis. He was taken from A&E Resus straight to ICU, and was confirmed to have Sepsis and Kidney failure; it was later discovered Lee had an abscess on his prostate gland.
Lee eventually was transferred from ICU to C24 and was not improving, a COVID test was performed and the result was positive. Lee was then rushed back to ICU where after another period of time in he was showing signs of improvement and taken off dialysis- eventually after almost 2 months in hospital, Lee was able to be discharged home.
The ICCU team are honoured to have Mr Griffiths do a patient story about his admissions to ICCU during a worldwide pandemic. The team are very aware how distressing the ICCU admission can be on patients and their close relatives, never mind during a pandemic. It is very important to us as a team to ensure we communicate well and effectively to all next of kin, especially when visiting was so abruptly stopped and we appreciate Mrs Griffiths being so understanding at that time.
As a team they welcome all feedback as it ensures that the care we deliver is just right for that patient, negatives are also welcomed as there is always room for improvement!
Since the early days of the pandemic ICCU now have more cordless phones enabling, where possible, patients to make contact with their loved ones and also have the use of an IPAD for video calls. Keeping next of kin updated is high on their list of priorities as caring for relatives’ is an extension/part of caring for the patient. Effective and consistent communication is an important part of a patients/relatives journey. The staff explained intricately every step of Lee’s treatment and patient pathway to his wife Dawn, during this understandably difficult and hectic period of time. The surgeon personally contacted Lee when he was discharged home to check on his progress.
Lee was only given a 10% chance of survival in his first admission to ICU, therefore Lee and Dawn are very grateful that he is alive and doing well.
If you cannot see this video, watch it on YouTube
This is a positive story about Mursana Mukta who is a patient who was born in Bangladesh and who does not speak any English.
Mrs. Mukta had had one daughter previously but following a referral to RWT from the Community Midwife, it was realised that she Mursana had previously had a procedure which meant that she had a condition that might threaten her pregnancy. No previous records were available from Bangladesh and Mursana had no recollection of what had happened. All communication took place through language interpreters.
Interpreted appointments took place with Mursana in her first language to explain the risks and the procedures to offer her advice and informed choices. She required multidisciplinary team work from the obstetric cardiology team in order to care for her. Liaison took place with a Trust in Birmingham who carried out a successful procedure and Mursana gave birth successfully to baby Faisan who was born in February. Mursana states that she is really pleased with the treatment that she received and wishes to see the service for Asian women continuing to improve.
Lucy Morse, Dr Spencer and Dr Woodmansey set up a obstetric cardiology service in 2015 and have cared for over 250 women during that time. Mursana has been our most medically challenging and has really tested those pathways and our network with Birmingham. Our MDT, which includes cardiac & obstetric anaesthetists, cardiac physiologists, cardiac surgeons and tertiary cardiologists, ensures our womens’ care is holistic, streamlined and utilises everyone’s areas of expertise. We were delighted with the positive outcome, and now need help building up our local service in order to provide care for all our Black Country women with cardiac disease in pregnancy.
This story illustrates the complexities that can arise when working with mothers from other cultures in terms of lack of medical records and having to communicate complex medical information via an interpreter, even before the clinical procedures can be implemented. We can see from this patient history that several teams worked together to support Mursana in achieving a successful birth: Community Midwifery; Obstetrics; cardiology; anaesthetics; the Interpreting Team and external trusts. This case is an excellent example of how RWT worked to achieve the best possible outcome for the most difficult case for a young mother who comes from a different culture. RWT continues to develop excellent services for all patients regardless of the cultural complexities of their care.
If you cannot see this video, watch it on YouTube
