Issue - meetings

An officver from Healrtfgwatch Havering will present details of the organisation’s reports into Meals at Queen’s Hospital and the NELFT Mental Healtyh Street Triage Service (attached).

A.     In-patient meals at Queen’s Hospital

The Chair of Healthwatch Havering explained that the organisation had received a number of complaints about meals at Queen’s Hospital including lack of variety, portion size and lack of assistance offered to patients who had difficulty eating. This had led to enter and view visits being undertaken to three wards in October 2016.

The overall of food on Bluebell A and B wards had been found to be good but the standard had been much lower on Sunrise B ward which catered for patients suffering from dementia. There was only limited food on offer and a lack of staff available to assist patients at mealtimes (it was accepted by Healthwatch Havering that staff on the ward were under significant pressure).

Improvements since the visit had included relaunching of the hospital’s Feeding Buddy scheme, referral to dieticians if necessary and adjustments to the food ordering system. At least two staff were now available on each ward to assist at mealtimes.

In response, the BHRUT Chief Nurse welcome the Healthwatch report and emphasised had taken place to improve the position on Sunrise ward. More mealtime assistants had been recruited and meals were now ordered by patients on the day. Findings of the enter and view visits had been responded to quickly and Healthwatch were welcome to  return and reinspect.

Hospital volunteers were able to be trained as mealtime assistants and there was a formal induction programme for all volunteers. The overall number of volunteers had increased by 100 compared to last year. Volunteers supported ward staff by e.g. befriending patients and also worked on the hospital reception. Barking College students also assisted as volunteers and the Pets as Therapy scheme was also available to support patients.

The hospital was required to ensure wards were safely staffed each day and this was reported on a monthly basis. Staff now took their meal breaks at a different time to patients and relatives were also welcome to assist at mealtimes where possible. Protected patient mealtimes had also been introduced which allowed more nurses to assist with meals. There were few staff vacancies in older people’s services with the most recruitment difficulties occurring on surgical wards.

The Chief Nurse confirmed that she visited wards at different times and would use action plans, retaining etc to deal with problems but it could take time to effect improvements. The Chief Nurse also confirmed she had been aware of problems on Sunrise B ward prior to the Healthwatch visit.

B.   NELFT Street Triage Service

Healthwatch was supportive of this service which it considered to be very innovative. The service was operated by NELFT, the Metropolitan Police and the British Transport Police with the aim of being able to intervene with people having a mental health crisis in a street area without their being criminalised.

Mental health staff were able to respond to requests from police and hence avoid people exhibiting mental health issues being taken to a police station or to A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7