Improving patient care and experience
We believe every patient deserves the best possible hospital experience. That’s why, across all areas of our work, we put patients at the heart of everything we do. Through our grants, arts and volunteering activities, we strive to help our hospitals provide outstanding care for patients and their families. Whether supporting a major redevelopment, offering creative arts activities for inpatients or enabling volunteers to help visitors find their way, our work makes sure patients feel supported and that their time in hospital is as positive as it can be. To help us achieve this objective, we said we would: •
provide grants opportunities to help the Trust make fast and effective improvements to patient-facing services and the hospital environment
• continue to curate and develop our art collection and engagement activities • engage volunteers in roles which interact with patients above and beyond the work of NHS staff • support patients and families in extreme financial difficulty during their treatment. In 2020/21, we: • funded a wide range of urgent support for the benefit of patients in hospital during the pea of the Covid-19 pandemic • awarded 109 emergency hardship grants to support patients and their families at times of extreme financial crisis • engaged 583 Crisis Response Volunteers to provide additional support for patients during the pandemic • delivered over 1,000 creative arts activity packs for patients at the bedside. 26
OUR IMPACT
Our progress towards achieving this objective The limitations on ward-based arts activities and volunteer roles forced us to think differently about providing support for patients - those receiving care at our hospitals as well as those isolating in the community. While the majority of our Covid-19 support grants were targeted at addressing the mental health and wellbeing needs of NHS staff, we also delivered a range of activities to enhance patient experience, including funding for faster WiFi and tablet devices to enable 'virtual visiting' at the bedside. In a survey carried out in July 2021, 98% of NHS staff working at the Trust agreed that our support enhances the overall hospital experience for patients, while 97% agreed patients value mealtime support from volunteers and 94% agreed patients value the art activity packs we provide.
