April 2018

In NHS Ayrshire and Arran Care Opinion is being more widely spread, with more staff at service level responding to Care Opinion posts. This activity report for April 2018, gives much to celebrate. It is no small achievement that the NHS Ayrshire and Arran has attracted 54 stories in April, of which a staggering 85% were positive.

A less-than positive story on Care Opinion this month is:

Link to the story - https://www.careopinion.org.uk/opinions/510260

"Stoma Facilities in Disabled Toilets"

About: Crosshouse Hospital Posted by LoobyLoo2018 (as a service user), 4 weeks ago

I was at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock to visit an in-patient who was in a ward on the 4th floor. Shortly arriving in the ward, I had to leave to go to the toilet as my stoma had started to become quite active. There were no toilets on the ward for visitors. In fact, the only toilets were on the ground floor - which is some distance from the wards. By the time I got to the disabled toilet on the ground floor, I was now in desperate need to attend to my stoma. The disabled toilet is a large decent space, very adequate for people in wheelchairs, or those who require assistance. Unfortunately, in the disabled toilets, in this hospital, the needs of an ostomate have been completely overlooked. There is no shelf for you to lay out everything that you need to hand - fresh pouch, disposal bag, wipes etc. The toilet roll dispenser was extremely awkward to use - when you urgently need toilet paper, the last thing you want to do is to try and find the end of the toilet roll and then only be able to get a couple of squares before it breaks off and then you have to start all over again! There was no seat within the toilet so that if you required to change your underwear you could do so without having to use the toilet pan as a seat. After all of that, how to dispose of your disposal bag. There were 2 bins in the toilet - one clearly labelled for domestic waste and a sanitary bin. Unfortunately the opening of the sanitary bin was very small - obviously not designed to take anything larger than sanitary products. Can I also just mention the actual size of the sink? It's rather on the small side, and prohibits properly washing your hands thoroughly without water spraying everywhere!

I would like Crosshouse Hospital to address the needs of ostomates in all of their premises and within their disabled toilets, and also look at the provision of toilets for visitors to ward

This is a difficult story to read and our heart goes out LoobyLoo2018 (or anyone) who has such a distressing experience on one of our premises. So what is the outcome of this story? Some things can be changed immediately and some things will need to be a medium or longer term plan. One thing we could do immediately was to replace the bin with one that has a wider opening. This was done on the same day of the post. The toilet facility was already in the planning stages for appropriate upgrade to meet the needs of different service user needs. This is a longer term project as it requires building works. In addition, the author of the post has been invited and agreed to be involved as one of our experts in the project. The author will help to guide us to ensure that ostomates have the needs met.

Another highly viewed story this month was about a little known service, part of our Maxillofacial service, and carried out by a Consultant Maxillofacial Prosthetist and Technologist, which has been viewed by the public an amazing 1,438 times so far

Link to the story - https://www.careopinion.org.uk/opinions/519712

"A brilliant service from an amazing team!"

About: Crosshouse Hospital / Ophthalmology Crosshouse Hospital Ophthalmology KA2 0BE

Posted by A very grateful mum (as a parent/guardian), 2 weeks ago

In a hidden corner of Crosshouse Hospital lives an amazing little known team of healthcare scientists! They do the most amazing of jobs! The BIGGEST of grateful thanks to Pauline and her team for the prosthetic corneal shell they provided for my daughter.

We are privileged to receive such a high standard of care for what could be considered cosmetics. Hours and hours of precision and perfectionism to produce something that has massively boosted her confidence. It’s just brilliant!

Can’t say thank you enough!

What a good month for feedback and I am sure staff will be delighted to get such positive feedback.

Eunice Goodwin, Patient feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran