News for our members and local community: November 2021

The past few months have been the busiest in NHS history, and we have felt it here at Kingston Hospital. Our staff continue to work incredibly hard to manage current pressures, as we move into what is set to be another busy period. Attendance is high in our Emergency (A&E) Department, and we would encourage patients to visit their GP or local pharmacy before coming in to see us, unless it’s an emergency. If you or someone you know needs helps from a medical expert, your local pharmacist can offer immediate advice on a wide range of health issues, without the need to book an appointment. Find out more about how your local pharmacy can help.

COVID-19 is still in the community and we have seen an increase in COVID cases again over recent weeks, a number of which are people who have not been vaccinated. We remain vigilant and continue to take precautions within the hospital, to help keep our staff, patients and visitors safe.

At this time, our focus is ensuring patients can be discharged swiftly and safely, to receive the most appropriate care at home or in the community. We are also continuing to work hard to catch up with the backlog of patient appointments that were delayed due to the pandemic.

“Phenomenal”, “fantastic”, “amazing” and “superb” are all words that have been recently used by patients to describe the service given by staff at Kingston Hospital. Despite the pressures of the pandemic, we aim to deliver outstanding patient care, without exception and throughout this newsletter you can read a small selection of the feedback sent to our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) over recent weeks.

Thank you to all our members for your continued support and we hope you enjoy reading some of our latest features and interviews below.

Share your views on our membership newsletter

We would love to hear your feedback on our membership newsletter – what do you like about it, what could we improve, and what would you like to hear about in the future?

Your views are important to us, so please take a moment to complete our short survey: https://form.jotform.com/212984047121351

We are also planning a series of focus groups to gather feedback from our members and to help improve our membership programme, so keep an eye on your inbox!         

My experience as a COVID-19 vaccinator

Caroline Ellis, a Senior Practice Development Nurse at Kingston Hospital, works in the Practice Development Team, providing education and support to registered nurses, nursing associates and nursing assistants. Here, she shares how her role at the hospital was transformed due to the pandemic and her experience of being redeployed as a COVID-19 vaccinator.

“The main thing I remember feeling back at the start of the pandemic was a great deal of uncertainty about what was to come. Would the team be redeployed? If so, to where? It felt strange to still be heading in to work every morning, while the rest of the world scrambled to work remotely or was furloughed.

“Soon we had some clarity that our team would remain in a support capacity, ensuring that redeployed staff from specialist areas had the skills to care for patients in ward environments. My lasting feeling from these months is pride: pride in a team that very swiftly developed new ways of working. Throughout this period a vaccine was the Holy Grail. When we were asked to help with the vaccination programme, it felt momentous, although like with anything new, there was an element of apprehension.”

Click here to read more

Your feedback

“I am writing to express my thanks to the superb medical and nursing staff I encountered during my time as an inpatient at Kingston Hospital. I cannot tell you how impressed I was with their kindness and professionalism. The staff were beyond high quality, they are a credit to both Kingston Hospital and to the nursing profession. I met so many of these "heroes". Conversations with other patients on the ward, we all felt the same, and we want you to know we appreciate all that you did for us.”

Look out for our new '#HelloMyNameIs' badges

If you come into the hospital, you may notice our staff will soon be wearing yellow #HelloMyNameIs badges to help support communications between our staff and patients. Our staff will have their preferred name on their badge and will also be asking patients what they would like to be called, helping to ensure we are continuing to deliver patient-centred, accessible, and compassionate care.

Kingston Hospital Charity: Our recent investments and the impact of legacies

A message from Rob Aldous, Director of Kingston Hospital Charity
Kingston Hospital Charity is the official charity of Kingston Hospital, and our mission is to work with colleagues from across the hospital, as well as key partners and stakeholders, to ensure every patient experiences outstanding care and the best possible outcomes. We do this by raising money to help provide a quality of care that is over and above what is possible with NHS funding alone.

It was very exciting to be involved in the formal opening of the new Roy Dominy Ophthalmology Acute Referral Centre in mid-September. This new unit represents the first phase of a programme to enhance, upgrade and expand the Royal Eye Unit’s facilities. This is one of the busiest services at Kingston Hospital and the refurbishment and expansion has been planned to support more efficient care. It was made possible thanks to Roy Dominy, who lived most of his life in Hampton and regarded his neighbours as his friends. Roy died in Kingston Hospital in 2017 and left most of his estate to Kingston Hospital Charity so that the community would benefit over many years to come. Many of the projects that we have been able to support across the hospital over the last few years are made possible thanks to people like Roy who, after taking care of family and friends, choose to leave a gift in support of Kingston Hospital in their wills.

I am looking forward now to being able to celebrate the opening of the planned extension of the Royal Eye Unit next autumn, which will create the space needed for a dedicated medical retina unit to support the growing number of patients with age-related macular degeneration and other conditions affecting the back of the eye. We will also be creating a paediatric day care oncology unit, to transform the care environment for children with cancer.

Find out more
If you would like to find out more about ways you can support the hospital, you are welcome to drop into the Kingston Hospital Charity office (located next to the hospital’s Main Entrance) Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. Alternatively, you can visit www.khc.org.uk, phone 020 8973 5040, or email [email protected].

Your feedback

"Service has been absolutely fantastic since my arrival in A&E. Staff have been very attentive and always on hand regardless of the time of day. Food was great, nurses and cleaners cleaners were great; all round care was phenomenal."

New volunteering programme helps elderly patients stay safe following hospital discharge

A new volunteering programme, which aims to help prevent falls among elderly patients at home, launched in October.

The “Falls Prevention – Community Exercise Volunteers” programme, which is run by the volunteering service at Kingston Hospital and supported by Helpforce charity, sees volunteers providing one-to-one support to encourage patients to complete exercises at home. This new volunteering programme will help ensure patients receive the right support at home and reduce the risk of being re-admitted due to falls.

Click here to read more 

Why not ask your friends, neighbours or local corporate groups to become members and support their local hospital?

It’s free to join and anyone aged 14+ can become a member: https://kingstonhospital.nhs.uk/get-involved/become-a-member/

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From time to time, the Trust may send you some information about the work of the Kingston Hospital Charity, which helps to raise vital funds for the Trust. This may include its ‘Our News’ newsletter. If you would prefer not to receive information about our charity please contact the Communications Team on [email protected]

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