One of the most difficult changes we’ve had to make to keep everyone safe during the pandemic has been severely limiting the number of visitors to our hospital.

We do not underestimate the impact this has on our patients, who are missing their family and friends, and those who are left at home, anxious to know how their loved ones are.

Throughout the pandemic we’ve constantly adapted to find ways to ensure we can keep our patients and their loved ones in touch. We were very lucky early in the pandemic to have several iPads donated, which are used to set up video calls with patients.

While lots of our patients have their own mobile devices and are able to independently stay in contact with their loved ones, these iPads have been invaluable for those who don’t. Our Chaplaincy team also carries out daily ward visits with their own iPad, helping patients have video calls with their families.

We know the importance of daily contact for families, and hearing how their loved one is. So we set up a process to ensure wards call a named relative at least once a day to update them – increasing to two daily calls if a patient’s condition changes or there are concerns to be addressed.

Tony Chambers, our Chief Executive, said: “The pandemic has completely changed how we work in many ways, though one thing which never changes is the importance of our patients having contact with their loved ones.

“We absolutely understand how difficult it is to not just come in and see them. We know we’ve not always got it right, and are constantly reviewing the situation, listening to feedback so we can prioritise contact between our patients and their loved ones.”

Our Palliative care team has been at the forefront of supporting staff to ensure communication with families is done in the right way, especially as Covid-19 patients sometimes deteriorate very quickly.

To help staff understand its importance, we’ve held communication workshops and offer training. One of the key aims is to ensure our teams are flexible and adaptable when it comes to communicating with families during this unprecedented time, keeping them engaged and updated.

We’re also striving to continually improve how we communicate, beginning a pilot in January to make follow-up telephone calls to our patients within 48 hours of them being discharged. As well as checking on their wellbeing and that they are managing at home, it’s an opportunity to ask about their experience, in particular, contact with families.

When a patient dies, their family receives a bereavement questionnaire which asks about their experience while their loved one was in our hospital. This includes questions about communication with the ward, allowing us to identify areas which may need improvement. Feedback is shared regularly across our teams.

In addition, feedback from these surveys, good and bad, is being used in the form of short videos to help with staff training. This allows our wards to learn from positive feedback, and see what changes may need to be made.

Find out more about current visiting restrictions, and exceptions, in our Covid-19 section.