Wardipedia has arrived!!

·         Wardipedia (www.wardipedia.org)  is a project of Star Wards..... which is the one and only project of the social justice charity Bright. Star Wards provides practical ideas and inspiring examples from and for mental health ward staff. About 600 wards are members and enjoying introducing small changes which make a massive difference to patients.

·           There are over 1,000 examples of imaginative approaches by wards eg:

             ‘Virtual pets corner ‘ i.e. developing a pet photo display of patients’ and staffs’ pets and wards sponsoring an animal e.g. a retired donkey or a guide dog 

             At the weekly Prepare and Share cooking group, the modern matron not only makes the coffee and washes up, but also does decorative serviette folding. The group is led by a ward manager who is a trained chef – including the skill of decorative pineapple carving!

             Football leagues, visits, stadium tours etc. The tour was to promote interest in local sport, active lifestyles and the importance of physical fitness.

             Podcast and music studio

             Remote control car races, and spacehopper races. Spontaneous paper plate Frisbee games.

             Repositioning a bed to give better view of outside

             Self-harm project run by a specialist nurse, including a camouflage clinic, support group, staff and training.

             The Catering Department have ‘Just for You’ where the patients are invited to design a meal themselves and the catering department will cook it for them.

             A  four week poetry workshop (also for community clients) in conjunction with Radio Stoke.

·         Wardipedia includes 77 ideas for enhancing inpatients’ experiences, with 11 in each of seven domains, structured around the concept of IMAGINE:

Imagination – what’s it like for the patient?

Mindfulness – chilling out

Activities – social, recreational, physical

Generosity - sharing, kindness, giving

Involvement –influence, information, independence

Neighbours – friends, family, fellow patients

Empathy – for self and others

For example:

7.        Mentalising

17.      Music

24.      Wii

33.      Men’s stuff

35.     Bring yourself to work day

44.     Gay patients

45.     Patient involvement

47.     Minority languages

53.     Bank staff

55.     Brain

59.     Social media

70.     Comfort objects

Hospital car parks

Contentious things aren't they? we have all visitted someone and resented the scrabble for change, or even how much we have to pay for visiiting someone frequently and how much it costs. Some people find hospital car parks a very useful metaphor for many issues. Here's one i really like. Hospitals are just like car parks because .......as soon as you build one it fills up.Well I guess that does hold up as an illustration. We are often told there is an over provision of beds in some sectors, yet the beds are all full.I suppose if you restrict parking then people find other means of getting to places, and the belief is that if you close beds and transfer the funds to community services then lo and behold the beds just aren't needed. I suppose as occured in the massive down sizing of psychiatric provision in the 80's.
Hospital car parks are another useful indicator of activity. If you go to your average District General Hospital at the weekend , what do you find? The consultants car park with its designated spaces will of course be largely empty, likewise the admin peoples. Yet the nurses car park (if there was such a thing) will be full as usual. Why so? Probably because patient need doesn't keep office hours and acutiy doesn't drop off at 5pm on a friday. In fact we are now told that mortality rates rise by up to 10% at the weekends due to the non availablity of senior medical staff to advise their junior colleagues (although available on a phone). It has been suggested that this needs to change.
Perhaps we will see all the car parks starting to be as full as the nurses' one?