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

One in four

I'm sure I have used the "one in four" statement many times. I have argued like many others before me that one in four people will have an episode of mental ill health/distress in their lifetime. The figure has been used by many to make people realise how we need to recognise and indeed de-stigmatise the number of people who need help but above all compassion for their situation.
But now we seem to have a new one in four. This new figure (actually based on a 2007 paper) argues that of those who have a mental health problem only one in four will actually be receiving treatment/help/assistance/support.So of that quarter of the population that need help only a quarter will be receiving it.
Quite an astonishing figure. Especially as the cost of this failure to treat /help is dwarfed by the savings to be accrued by returning people to a better place. As you can tell the argument is being underpinned by financial arguments (not surprising considering the London School of economics are involved) but isn't this really a moral issue?
Imagine if you will a quarter of diabetics only receiving treatment and a situation where retinopathy or gangrenous extremeties or indeed blindness were casually accepted. You can't really can you. Or even where a failure to treat for up to a year was accepted as a consequence of "how services are organised"
We do seem to be dogged by low expectations, fatalism and even a sense of nihlism when it comes to mental health.