Kimmeridge

This is an elderly medical assessment unit for patients predominantly 80 years and over. The unit is open seven days a week.

Contact details

All numbers have an answerphone 7-11am. If urgent please page the coordinator via the switchboard available 8am-4pm, Monday-Friday.

Telephone enquiries

Please arrange, where possible, for only one named person to phone the ward to make enquiries and to relay the information to other relatives and friends. If you are making routine enquiries, it would be helpful to the ward staff if you call between 14:00 and 15:00 as there are more nurses available on the ward between those times to speak to you. Please note confidential information can never be given over the telephone. If you would like to speak to a Doctor, this can be arranged, please speak to a member of the staff to arrange.

Useful ward information

There are telephones/televisions by each bedside which may be rented; these are operated by cards which may be obtained from the machines at the ward entrance and on the C/E block lift landing.

Your bedside unit

When you reach your hospital bed, just follow the instructions on the bedside screen to get yourself set up on the TV. It only takes a few moments and then you’re all set. To use our services, you will need to create an account first. If you have problems getting started, just pick up your bedside phone to speak to our Customer Care Team. This is always a FREE call from the bedside, and our Advisors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Clothes

We encourage all our patients to wear day clothes during the daytime. This promotes their dignity and helps them to return to normal routines as soon as possible. Please assist us in this by ensuring you/your relative has a supply of easy-to-wear day clothes.

Personal Belongings

We advise that personal belongings of high value or large sums of money are not brought into the ward. The hospital does not take responsibility for the safety of belongings for those patients who wish to keep them with them unless handed in and a receipt obtained. A hospital safe is available for those patients who do not have relatives to take these items home or who are unable to consent to taking responsibility for their possessions. We ask that if you take an item home from your relative than please inform the nursing staff so that this can be recorded.

Visiting times

We have set visiting times from 2-7pm to allow us to provide care and for our patients to rest. Recently, our visiting times have had to alter due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and requirements around infection control. For the most up to date information, please see Trust Visitors Charter here. These times may be varied in exceptional circumstances. To arrange this, or if you wish to participate in your relative’s care or assist them at mealtimes, please speak to the staff nurse in charge.

How to find us

Kimmeridge ward is situated on level 0 in the yellow zone. View map.

Parking

A multi-storey car park is situated on the main hospital site, the entrance to which is on Longfleet Road (a covered walkway from the car park (level G) leads to the main hospital). The payment terminal for the multi-storey is in the main entrance and accepts coins, notes or credit / debit cards.

Payment may also be made at the security/ car parks office which is also located in the main entrance next to reception (card only). Please make sure that you make payment before returning to your vehicle. The car parking office is in the main entrance next to the hospital reception. Motorcycles can be parked for free of charge in the designated motorcycle parking areas.

Wi-Fi

Free Wi-Fi is now available to patients and visitors to the hospital, kindly funded by the University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity. It can be accessed with the following steps:

• turn your devices Wi-Fi on
• select ‘NHS Wi-Fi’ from the available networks list
• open your browser and follow the on screen instructions to register or log on.
• enjoy your free Wi-Fi

Have your say

• If you wish to discuss any ideas or issues in more depth, please make an appointment for personal time with the ward lead or a deputy.
• Share your views and comments on our service via the red suggestion box in the central corridor or personal feedback via the nursing staff.
• Please tell us how we are doing through the Friends and Family Test.
• Tell us what is working and what we could do better.
• Your comments will help us plan improvements to the care we provide.

To complete the form online visit www.uhd.nhs.uk – search Friends and Family test or scan the barcode.

Friends and Family test