Enter and View: Rydon Ward, Taunton

This visit forms part of a wider project running from November 2015 to July 2016. Our Enter and View Representatives visited each of the nine wards in Somerset that provide treatment for people with acute mental health issues.

Recommendations

1. Healthwatch Somerset leaflets are displayed both in reception and also on the patient engagement noticeboard.
2. Consider changing the lighting in the ‘female only’ corridor to make it less ‘gloomy’.
3. Considered putting a smoking shelter in the garden for the first floor patients to contain smoke and litter for the benefit of other patients.
4. Consult and involve patients in planning and maintaining the garden area.
5. Information about making a complaint, raising a concern, advocacy support and Healthwatch Somerset should be provided to each patient in a patient information pack.
6. Create a volunteering recruitment plan to encourage the recruitment of volunteers onto the ward.
7. Consult a nutrition specialist for advice on improving food.
8. Consider the good practice examples gathered by the Healthwatch Somerset enter and view team around activities and involvement. Please see appendices 2, 3 and 4.
9. Consult with staff to identify and promote ways to complete paperwork with maximum efficiency to enable ward staff to spend more informal, interactive time with patients.
10. Negotiate and clarify working relationships and processes with Taunton Association for the Homeless to improve discharge times.

This report was produced by the previous Healthwatch Somerset service provider, The Care Forum.