Kelly coins in £55k for women's health and maternity services at Yeovil Hospital

THE Matron for Women’s Health and Maternity Services at YeovilDistrictHospital has been successful in obtaining a grant of just over £55,000 to develop the hospital’s patient feedback systems both across the trust and nationally.

Kelly Kent’s ‘iCARE if you’re smiling’ project was one of just nine successful initiatives chosen out of 147 national applications who applied for a grant from the National Institute of Innovation and Improvement’s Patient Feedback Challenge funded by the Department of Health.

Kelly said: “They were looking for a scheme which improves the quality, quantity and real-time patient feedback which in turn would be used to improve patient care.

''My business plan involved gaining funding to help YeovilDistrictHospital extend its already well-established iCARE ethos. This aims to ensure staff provide patients with good communication, attitude and respect in an appropriate environment.

''My project focuses on raising the expectations of iCARE with our patients providing them and their families with a timely opportunity to feedback on the quality of their care enabling us to address any issues immediately.”

The £55k Kelly won will be used to purchase business-like cards, which will be given to all patients to make them aware of the iCARE ethos and what they should be expecting from staff, together with  iPADS which will enable staff to carry out a brief iCARE questionnaire on as many patients as possible across the hospital to get real-time feedback on their experiences.

It will also pay for staff training and Kelly is hoping to introduce a simple scheme which will enable patients to indicate how they feel they are being treated in hospital on a daily basis. The project will also launch ward drop-in sessions, where patients and families can visit and provide feedback direct to staff.

Director of Nursing at Yeovil District Hospital, Helen Ryan, said: “We are delighted that YeovilDistrictHospital’s iCARE ethos was recognised as one which deserved an investment to expand and to share with hospitals across the country. We are very proud of Kelly for taking this initiative and winning this award.”

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