The small things making a big difference to hospital staff

3 April 2019

A fridge, drinks trays, some hoodies. They may not seem much on the face of it, but these are some of the small things making a big difference to the lives of staff at Shropshire’s two acute hospitals.

They are among the items purchased through the Small Things Make a Big Difference Fund set up by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH).

The £10,000 fund was set up by SaTH, which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford so that staff could spend up to £100 on items that would make a difference to their everyday working life.

Following last year’s long, hot summer by far the biggest request has been for fans, which are currently being purchased ready for this summer.

Other items have included fridges for teams to store their food and drink, team hoodies, microwave ovens, tables and chairs and trays to carry drinks on.

Debbie Snooke, End of Life Care Specialist Nurse, spent £100 on drinks trays.

She said: “We were delighted to have our bid accepted. We identified the need for drinks trays in the wards which have end of life care Swan Rooms. The money from the bid allowed us to purchase 25 trays which have been delivered to the wards.

“The trays, which meet food hygiene standards, are blue and have a Swan Scheme sticker attached to them. They can be put into the dishwasher and will be kept specifically for delivering drinks for relatives of our end of life patients.”

Claire Corfield, quality manager at the Shropshire and Mid Wales Fertility Centre, used £93 to buy a fridge.

She said: “Following the relocation of the Fertility Centre from RSH to Severn Fields Health Village, I put in a bid for a new staff room fridge. We do not have any canteen facilities so everyone in the team brings in lunch.

“The old fridge was far too small and was quite possibly off Noah’s ark.

“The new fridge has made a real difference to our team as it has plenty of space for everyone’s needs.”

Jessica Smith, AAA (Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm) Screening Programme Co-ordinator, wanted team hoodies for her and her colleagues to wear in the colder weather. They were purchased with an £88 grant from the fund.

Jessica said: “We asked for bespoke AAA Team hoodies to wear during the colder months, when we visit GP practices across the county.

“The process was simple, all we had to do was decide what would make our working lives that bit more pleasant, fill in an application and wait. When we were sent the good news that we could go ahead the team was really pleased.”

Victoria Maher, Workforce Director at SaTH, said: “It is very easy, in an organisation as large as ours, to get hung up on the major projects which we need to carry forward to improve things for patients and for staff. But often, something small like a new fridge or some new tables and chairs for a staff area, can make a real difference to people’s day-to-day lives.

“The Small Things Make A Big Difference” fund has proved very popular and we are now looking at how we can develop it further.”