Education teams across Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals have been taking a new approach to the way they train health staff to ensure patients are offered individual, tailored care.
Some of the Trust’s traditional methods of teaching have been replaced with a series of intensive, multi-themed study days focusing on ‘Person Centred Care’. This approach means focusing on the needs of the person rather than the needs of the service. Patients have their own views on what’s best for them and the Trust is committed to being reactive to the needs of the individual to ensure their stay is as comfortable as possible.
Clinical leads in dementia care, falls prevention, frailty, delirium and end of life care have been coming together in one place at the same time to provide concentrated ‘staff centred’ training and coaching with the ultimate goal of giving patients a more comforting hospital experience.
Bethany Cotton, Dementia Education Lead, said: “Being in hospital can be a daunting time for patients. They are away from loved ones and the familiarity of their own homes. They are also among people they don’t know and in ill health.
“Our ambition is to see and treat the patient as a person rather than a condition. Person Centred Care is coordinated and tailored to the needs of the person. Crucially, it ensures that people are always treated with dignity, compassion and respect. That’s why we decided to revamp the way we deliver our staff training to make it more connected to the real environment and the different teams that work together with across the Trust.”
The new style learning in Person Centred Care is being delivered each month across the Trust’s hospital sites.
The Trust also runs a week-long awareness event called ‘Frailty Week’ inviting staff to learn more about the treatment and care of elderly, vulnerable patients, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to treat patients in a more holistic way, helping them to recover and return to independence.