Heartbeat: Tea party unites patients, visitors and colleagues on D47

April 7, 2020

Back in late February an innovative idea by a Matron keen to bring together her wards had her patients, colleagues and visitors smiling from ear to ear as they spent quality time with each other at the first ward tea party.

D47 is one of our rehabilitation wards based within the Sheldon Block at City Hospital. Patients are admitted on to the ward as they go through rehabilitation, recovery and readiness to return home and although the ward is a happy place with patients leaving positive feedback, it has for a long time suffered in one aspect, that being isolation.

To find out more about the tea party and the thinking behind the project, Heartbeat caught up with Matron, Natalie Whitton to find out more. She said,”D47 is a single occupancy side room ward where patients have their own private space rather than the traditional nightingale bays that are commonly seen at our Trust. The downside of this is that patients have a tendency to keep themselves to themselves in their room and unfortunately isolate themselves from each other.

“We saw this issue and we were keen to do something positive, instead of pushing patients to come out to the communal areas, we thought about what we could do to get them to jump out of their own beds and want to be there and that’s where the idea of a tea party came from. It’s the carrot and stick approach, just in this case it was carrot cake.

“To bring it to fruition, we got all of the staff on the ward involved, invited carers and families in and encouraged patients to join us, before we knew it, we were down to standing room only with every seat in the communal area taken and patients from D47 and D43 keen to join in. It’s been really well received and colleagues have had an opportunity to speak to patients and their families in a more relaxed way. Not just talking about their healthcare but breaking down barriers using slices of cake and cups of tea.”

Patient Elizabeth Habberley was one of the first to take her place at the party, after having spent two weeks on the ward she was keen to meet the people around her, she said, “This is wonderful, its such a lovely idea and it’s great to be able to meet people. I have ulcerated legs so I’m not as mobile as I could be so it’s lonely being in a side room on your own all the time.”

Fingers crossed, this won’t be the only tea party on D47 as plans are already in place to make this a regular event.