NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Edition 4 CUP OF KINDNESS How we make a real difference to the patients in our care Inside... 4-5 Patient feedback Creating a patient-centred NHS 6 A rewarding opportunity Could you be a non-executive director? 8-9 Public Partners Helping us to maintain standards 10-11 Stub it out Support for our smokefree policy 12-13 Ready to respond Talk to us about How we assess patient needs 14-15 Creating opportunities your experiences Supporting the next generation 16 Pharmacy opening hours because you matter All the information you need Our services are designed around you – and as part of our commitment to listen and learn, we want to hear your views We love it when people tell us about their your views and feedback and suggestions. experiences of our services. We also learn from complaints, and this formal It’s the very best way to measure how well we process is a key part of our commitment to Follow us on are delivering care and how we can identify listen and learn. Twitter @NHSGGC things that could be improved. When something goes wrong – or not as To receive up-to-the- Right across the NHS in Scotland, there is a well as it should have – the formal complaint drive to put a bigger emphasis on something process is appropriate and worthwhile for minute information on we refer to as “person-centred care”. both the complainer and the NHS. all the latest NHSGGC We use the term “person-centred” rather than But it is evident that many of those who have news and campaigns. “patient centred” because in many cases the been in contact with our staff and our experience of relatives or carers is just as services wish to make suggestions and vitally important as that of the patient. comments rather than go down the road of a formal complaint. Health News is written and designed by the It was following feedback from relatives NHSGGC Communications directorate. and carers that we recently scrapped the We have now developed a range of ways Editors: Ally McLaws, director of communications, restrictive visiting slots to the vast majority in which we can capture feedback in a way and Sandra Bustillo, associate director of communications of our hospital wards. The new open visiting that it can help us establish broad areas for regime in hospitals across Greater Glasgow improvement and identify specific pockets Health News is published four times a year. It is inserted in The Herald and Evening Times and Clyde is designed around the patient of excellent practice that can be shared with newspapers and also distributed throughout hospitals, and the visitor rather than our hospital ward other parts of our service to achieve more health centres and pharmacies. It is available to read online at: www.nhsggc.org.uk/healthnews management. consistent levels of satisfaction from patients Written and published by NHS Greater Glasgow and and their families or carers. Clyde Communications, JB Russell House, Gartnavel That’s the way we want things to be – services Royal Hospital Campus, 1055 Great Western Road, designed around you wherever possible. Over the next few pages of this Health News Glasgow G12 0XH. magazine, we will highlight the various ways Follow us: @NHSGGC To contact Health News, email: This clear example of “person-centred care” is that you can help us make our services even [email protected] why we are determined to do more to capture better than they already are. www.nhsggc.org.uk/patientfeedback 2 – www.nhsggc.org.uk/healthnews Our staff are committed to delivering person- centred care Cuppa kindness made all the difference One elderly woman coming in about was not being able to ward for a few days to recover, of staff to do this – she had to one of our hospitals recently get a big mug of tea with just during which time she heard about how important it for a cataract operation was the right amount of sugar and received great nursing care. was for this elderly patient and asked if she was nervous milk early in the morning – just took a couple of minutes about the operation. because that was when she But the one thing that made out of her busy, early-morning woke up and that was how all the difference was that a shift to make a difference. She told our staff that, at she had started her day for member of staff duly turned the age of nearly 90, she many years. up at her bedside early every “Person-centred care” is wasn’t too nervous and she morning of her stay with a everyone’s business. We are wondered why everyone was Our elderly patient had a very big mug of tea with exactly proud to share this story as it going to all this bother for her! successful operation thanks to the right amount of milk and says so much about the real the skills of the medical staff. sugar in it. impact our staff in all parts of Then our patient said that the our service make to patients thing she was most concerned She stayed in the hospital No-one had told our member every day. www.nhsggc.org.uk/patientfeedback www.nhsggc.org.uk/healthnews – 3 Delivering the best healthcare for our patients Patients are at the heart of all that we do Your views and concerns about our services and staff will help us to create a truly patient-centred NHS Thanks to a massive response from patients, we using the comments to tailor their approach are continuing to evolve our services by making and deliver the most appropriate care for the changes to create a truly patient-centred NHS. individual needs of patients. Every comment and complaint is an opportunity There are a number of ways we collect the views to learn about how we can better meet the of our patients and their carers and families: needs of patients and visitors, and deliver health • Surveys and questionnaires It’s easy to find and easy to use. On our website care in wards and other settings. • One-to-one interviews homepage click on “patients and visitors” and • Focus groups of patients go straight to “Patient Feedback”. There are a number of ways in which patients • Standing panels of patients, carers or and their relatives and friends can tell us how members of the public We also monitor views posted on the UK Patient well or not we are doing. • Patients or carers being members of clinical Opinion website that refer to our services here in networks or advisory groups NHSGGC but our preferred online method is the These range from our formal complaints process • Public Partnership Forums provide useful Patient Feedback system on our own website at to the online feedback system on our public feedback to the Partnerships. www.nhsggc.org.uk website and using Patient Opinion to inform individual wards and departments. There are also suggestion boxes in wards If you have used any of our services and want and departments and Feedback Boards to tell us how it was for you then please visit our We acknowledge that there is room for are available for patients to note what is website and give us your feedback. improvement, and feedback, both comments important to them. and compliments, can lead to positive change NHSGGC nurse director Margaret McGuire throughout our organisation. We also have a very popular patient feedback is leading some pioneering work to drive up system that enables any patient or carer or levels of patient input to service development We encourage and want to make it as easy relative of a patient to use. This system allows and to drive forward the development of and simple as possible for all of our patients to you to give us your comments at a time that person-centred care across every area of give feedback and follow this up through staff suits you. healthcare delivery. Patient feedback has influenced positive change IMPROVED CLINIC CAPACITY of the previous day being a NO SMOKING MESSAGES FEEDBACK FROM MINORITY We have introduced changes to public holiday. One service is piloting a postcard COMMUNITIES practice in an outpatient clinic on scheme in reaction to a complaint We are committed to and pro- days following public holidays to The service has now reduced about smoking. actively seek feedback from improve capacity. the number of appointments minority communities. arranged on days immediately The cards have been designed This is in response to a patient after a holiday to factor in time with a “No Smoking” message We want to ensure there is barrier- who complained after a 90-minute to see emergency patients. The and were placed at bedsides and free access to our services for those wait. After an investigation complainer was satisfied communal areas within the ward. protected by the Equality Act 2010. it was discovered that the with the outcome and after a clinic had been overbooked further appointment wrote to The aim was to drive home to NHSGGC has a wide range of through a combination of urgent express their gratitude because patients and visitors NHSGGC’s engagement structures including appointments and a higher they had found the service greatly Smoking Policy, and if this scheme patient panels and a mental number of referrals from the improved thanks to our response proves successful it will be spread health network. A variety of actions emergency department because to the concern they had raised. out across other sites.