"For the attention of staff who manage this"

Since early last week the distributed television (DTV) system at Rampton has been suffering from a major fault which has resulted in most of Sky TV not functioning. Access to a TV in their siderooms is a lifeline for some patients, especially those in Long Term Segregation (LTS) who may have very limited contact with any other person for the majority of their day. In an institution such as Rampton, it can be the simple pleasures like watching a favourite football team or watching a good movie that can make the difference between a patient having a good day or them turning to other coping mechanisms such as self-harming.

Since last week a team of staff from Rampton and the wider trust including staff from nursing, security, intelligence, management & IT have worked tirelessly to try and get the DTV system back up and running. Staff have even been contacted at home on an evening and a weekend in an effort to find the fault and repair it. We are enormously grateful to them all and hope that the trust recognises their efforts.

The DTV system at Rampton is managed by an outside contractor. Since this company has been responsible for the system, we have seen a large spike in faults and down-time. This has resulted in a very expensive DTV network been rendered unusable on multiple occasions over the last couple of years. 

It seems that the company are incapable of managing the system competently and I would invite the Trust's Board of Directors to review the contract.

This latest failure is good evidence that Rampton should consider moving to a more cost effective system - perhaps utilising the Made Purple system we already have to provide streaming services as opposed to the expensive Sky service. Access to the Made Purple platform has already transformed the lives of patients in Rampton, giving them access to information and services that would be unthinkable in a High Secure hospital just a few years ago. As a hospital we are already years ahead of the the other two high secure hospitals in terms of patient access to technology. Incorporating the DTV system into the Made Purple system would futureproof the system for years to come - no doubt saving the Trust a fortune in the long-run.

It may be difficult for someone reading this post to understand the impact something as simple as a television can have on the life of a patient. I don't believe I am capable of describing this. Sufficient to say that the tv is for some patients the only thing in their life that is capable of giving them any joy. 

I ask the Executive to try and put themselves in the place of a traumatised, disturbed, incarcerate mentally ill/learning disabled patient who's only access to the outside world is their tv & think how they'd feel having that lifeline removed. The solution is clear. Stop the reliance on this company and move to the future. Move to Made Purple.