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Cutting-edge equipment introduced to ophthalmology service
Thanks to charitable funding from Kingston Hospital Charity, a new piece of cutting-edge imaging equipment has been introduced at Kingston Hospital’s Royal Eye Unit, enhancing patient care.
Kingston Hospital’s ophthalmology service is the first in England to deploy the latest version of the Optos Silverstone ultra-widefield retinal imaging system, which allows for more comprehensive acquisition and review of images in one multimodal imaging system, increasing the efficiency and resilience of the medical retina service. It also provides a significantly better assessment of the retinal periphery when compared to conventional imaging of the rear of the eye.
Vasuki Sivagnanavel, Consultant Ophthalmologist at Kingston Hospital, explained: “We are very excited to have acquired this state-of-the-art equipment. As well as assisting our COVID-19 recovery plan, by clearing the backlog of routine retina activity that built up at the height of the pandemic in the spring, the more comprehensive evaluation of the retinal periphery it provides will lead to earlier diagnosis and improved patient outcomes. I’m delighted this ultra-widefield imaging equipment is now operational and benefitting our patients.”
Kingston named Best Dementia Friendly Hospital in National Awards
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Kingston Hospital has won the “Best Dementia Friendly Hospital” category in the National Dementia Care Awards 2020.
In 2014, Kingston Hospital launched its first dementia strategy and in 2016, with funding from Kingston Hospital Charity, the Trust began refurbishing its elderly care wards, a project which was completed in 2019.
Winners of the National Dementia Care Awards were announced at a virtual awards presentation on Thursday 12 November, organised by The Journal of Dementia Care and attended by over 400 guests.
The following statement was issued by the judging panel: “The judges thought all the finalists were brilliant. They chose Kingston Hospital as the winner because of their exceptional commitment to improving the hospital experience for patients with dementia and their carers. In their achievements, they have demonstrated their underpinning philosophy – “the more you know about the background of the person with dementia, the better care you can give.””
Olivia Frimpong, Kingston Hospital’s service improvement lead for dementia and delirium, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be recognised for the hard work the hospital has undertaken in the past five years to improve care for patients with dementia and delirium. Through the Trust’s dementia strategy we have transformed the elderly care wards into dementia friendly environments, developed a fantastic therapeutic activities service and now have dementia specialist nurses providing support to staff, patients and their carers across the hospital.
“This could not have been achieved without the dedication of the fantastic dementia team, who always put their patients first and go out of their way to support people living with dementia, who often find coming into hospital a very frightening experience. It is also important to recognise the support of Kingston Hospital Charity, who campaigned tirelessly to make the ward refurbishments possible. I am incredibly proud to work with such dedicated team members.”
To find out how you can support Kingston Hospital Charity, visit www.khc.org.uk
800 messages delivered to patients from loved ones
Since our ‘message to a loved one’ service launched in May this year, we have now delivered 800 messages to patients in hospital.
One user of the service said: “I wanted to say thank you for providing this helpful service to help patients have some contact with their families during the pandemic, while there are severely restricted visits available at the hospital. My mum was rushed to hospital for treatment and found my daily messages a useful distraction.”
Relatives and close friends can send an email to [email protected] before 12pm for their message to be delivered direct to their loved one at Kingston Hospital on the same day. Messages received after 12pm will be delivered the following day.
Our virtual visiting has also enabled families to keep in touch during times when visiting on our inpatient wards is restricted.
One family member of a patient who has been using video calls to keep in touch, said: “It’s a great way of feeling like you are more involved with the person who is in hospital.”
“I live a long way from Kingston, so knowing that I could FaceTime with my dad whenever I wanted to, was really helpful.”
University for the Creatives Arts student project – vote for your favourite animation
In spring, first year students from the University for the Creatives Arts embarked on a project with patients and staff at Kingston Hospital to create a short animated film to help people understand pain.
Students worked through lockdown, battling with technical limitations and the challenges of remote working to come up with their creative endeavours. The work of four teams was shortlisted over the summer and now your help is needed to choose the winning film.
Watch the shortlisted films and vote for your favourite: https://kingstonhospital.nhs.uk/the-peoples-choice-vote-for-your-favourite-animation/
Meet the governor: Bonnie Green
Bonnie Green is an elected public governor for the borough of Richmond. Bonnie has lived in the borough for around 50 years, in Twickenham, Teddington and now in Hampton. We spoke to Bonnie about her time as a governor.
Q. When were you first elected as a governor?
I was elected in 2015 and am two thirds through my second term, having been re-elected in 2018.
Q. Why did you decide that you would like to be a governor at Kingston Hospital?
I’ve been associated with healthcare throughout my working life as a communications and public affairs specialist across the health services, the pharma industry and medical charities. When I gave up full time work, I turned that interest into supporting the patient and public voice in local health services in Richmond, through the organisations that were the forerunners to Richmond Healthwatch. This gave me great foresight into both the health and social care issues that were concerning the people of my borough and afforded the opportunity of working with both commissioners and providers of care, including Kingston Hospital. Also during this period, both my husband and I were diagnosed with, and successfully treated for, cancer. My surgery was done at Kingston Hospital and following this, I became involved as a patient partner and helped to re-establish its Cancer Patient Partners Group which is still running successfully today. All of this together made me think that my knowledge of the local health economy and my passion for ensuring that the voice of the patient is heard and acted upon, might be put to good use as a governor of the hospital and it led me to putting my name forward for election.
Q. How does your role as a governor support the hospital, patients and members?
I’m proud to currently be Chair of the Governors’ Quality Scrutiny Committee. This is an important committee which provides a channel for the Trust to receive feedback from patients and the community about quality of care, and for the committee to provide assurance to the Council of Governors that the Trust is delivering quality services to patients and that patients and the public are involved in the quality work of the Trust. In this role, I also attend the Trust’s Patient Experience Committee and the Healthwatch Forum, all of which gives me and my committee further insight into patient and public experience.
Q. What do you think have been the biggest successes of the hospital over the last few years?
It has to be being awarded the Outstanding rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). It’s a tribute to the hard work and dedication of everyone at the hospital, whether in administration or those providing care, to achieve this rating. I remember being in the first staff meeting which was organised to hear the outcome of the CQC inspection in 2018 and it was such a joyous and emotional occasion, particularly because we were the first Trust in London to achieve this. More recently, the way all the hospital staff have pulled together to manage the COVID pandemic and look after patients, has been truly amazing.
Q. What do you enjoy the most about being a governor?
One of our roles, although recently due to COVID we haven’t been able to fulfil it, is to visit various areas or clinics in the hospital to talk to patients and family members about their experiences of the care they are receiving. We hear all sorts of experiences, but I have to say that the majority of these are very positive, not only about the care received but also praising the staff at all levels. This all provides a useful source of patient experience, which is collated and the resulting reports come to the Governors’ Quality Scrutiny Committee for review and in turn are shared elsewhere throughout the organisation. I am looking forward to the time when we can start this important activity again.
Council of Governors meeting – 19 January 2021
Our next Council of Governors meeting will take place virtually on 19 January 2021 at 6pm. Members are welcome to observe Council of Governors meetings. If you would like to join us, please contact Susan Simpson, Director of Corporate Governance: [email protected]
We would love to hear from you
Are there any particular areas you would like to hear more about in future bulletins? Please do let us know.
We would also love to hear your ideas for topics and themes for future talks for members. Send your comments and suggestions to us at [email protected]
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