Meeting the needs of our youngest patients

James Munro, CEO of Patient Opinion approached our Trust last summer to ask if we would be interested in piloting a children’s feedback project. We jumped at the opportunity, and after discussing the project with the ward’s matron and sister, we decided to give it a go at Lincoln County Hospital. The project is a partnership between Patient Opinion and Monkey wellbeing and aims to get more children and young people to give feedback about their health care experiences.

About two months ago, out of the blue, I started receiving notifications about feedback coming from our Rainforest children’s ward.  Two members of staff, Junior Sister Sharon Birkin and HCSW Laura Richmond had proactively starting generating stories and it has been going from strength to strength since then.

There is such a strong presence of Monkey on the ward, posters on doors, staff wearing badges, information in the parents’ room etc. In addition to staff collecting stories from children and parents, they thought of the idea of placing a monkey box in the parents’ room for anonymous feedback from parents to give instant and direct feedback.  It also allows parents who do not feel comfortable giving face to face feedback, or feedback via the Patient Opinion website to have their say about the care their child has received. It allows everyone to have a voice.

In addition to the Monkey resources they have on the ward, the staff have created a beautiful feedback board, which is decorated with a different theme every month. It displays the feedback that they have received, and serves as a beautiful visual for people coming and going.

As a surprise, I took the Chairman of the Trust to Rainforest ward to show the incredible work the staff have done there in implementing the Monkey wellbeing project, which astounded him. These two members of staff have taken the time to really engage with the ward’s young patients and their parents, and feedback like this is so crucial so we know when we have got things right and also we change things if we get them wrong to make things better for future patients.

Only recently has there has been a shift in the NHS to gather and listen to feedback directly from children and young people which has come from The National children’s and young people’s survey which in my opinion is fantastic news. Historically the NHS have only focused on feedback from adult patients and service users. This project hones in on the importance of real time feedback from children, because they deserve to have their say, and demonstrates that the Trust is listening to all its patients.  Junior Sister Sharon Birkin who plays a huge part in getting feedback simply said that staff want a “service they can be proud of”. The feedback provides powerful motivation for making the project successful.

The impact of implementing the project has been vast. The morale boost it gives staff is invaluable, and enhances our patients’ experience across the board. Going forward, we hope to continue our success by adding the service to Safari ward, which is our day case ward for children. Staff have worked incredibly hard to get this project off the ground, and its success is down to them. Laura Richmond, HCSW working on the project pinpointed the projects impact...

“when times are tough, the amazing feedback gives us the motivation to get through the day”

I can’t wait to read more inspiring stories from our youngest patients in the hospital, and anticipate the success of the projects expansion going forward.