New one-to-one support service to provide best possible care for Trust patients

Friday 27 October 2023

A new one-to-one service has been introduced to provide the best possible support to help the recovery of patients with high level care and supervision needs at the Trust, which runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals.

The Enhanced Care Team (ECT) at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) supports those patients who fulfil certain criteria – it can include those living with dementia, at risk of falls, mental health challenges or experiencing substance withdrawal or delirium.

With one-to-one care, the Enhanced Care Support Workers (ECSW) are at hand at both Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and are able to focus on the individual patient’s needs and abilities. They work closely with other teams, such as therapies.

Samantha Matthews, Clinical Lead Enhanced Care Team, heads a team of 21 ECSWs who are already working with patients on wards. The Trust is growing the team even further with another nine soon to join.

Whilst patients are receiving the support and supervision of the team, they are encouraged   to take part in cognitive and physical activities to help reduce the risk of de-conditioning and enhance their experience.

The level of support and supervision for a patient is assessed by nurses when they go onto wards.

Samantha said: “Feedback from families and carers has been positive. We support a patient’s  recovery by engaging in ongoing therapies, such as speech and language and physical therapies. This has shown an improvement in the patients re-conditioning and their engagement with loved ones and staff.

“We have also observed that the rapport between ECSWs and patients has also led to improvements in patient hydration and their nutritional intake.

“Carers and Families of patients who receive one-to-one enhanced care and supervision have also expressed their appreciation and relief, knowing that their loved one is receiving this additional support during their time of need.”

Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing at SaTH, said: “With the introduction of this fantastic new team, some of our patients are getting individualised care. This personal touch is ensuring we are meeting their needs 24/7 and is already making a difference.

“The feedback from families and carers is that with this one-to-one care in place and by liaising with other services such as therapies, we are improving the experience of our patients.”

The team, which has additional training in dementia awareness and dealing with difficult situations involving patients, provides personal care; basic observations; chair-based exercises and physical activity planning, for example, dance, movement and balloon tennis and cognitive engagement through puzzles, games, art, music or song.