Update on visiting to Poole maternity unit
NHS England published revised guidance for adult visiting to hospitals earlier this year. In our maternity services at Poole Hospital, we took the opportunity to review our attendance and visiting guidance, taking into account the additional needs of birthing parents, the un-born and new-born baby, and the environments we are providing maternity care in.
We had been delighted to lift the visiting restrictions as an optimistic sign of return to normality for women and their families. However, in light of the guidance, risk assessments were undertaken within the department and due to the size of the bays and numbers in the bays it was deemed that visiting needed to be restricted.
These include:
- Antenatal clinics, antenatal day assessment unit and scans: one partner only permitted in the waiting toom and consulting room
- Labour ward and Haven birthing suite: two birthing partners permitted.
- Antenatal ward, postnatal wards, transitional care unit: one partner or visitor at any one time, open visiting 10am-11pm, no overnight stays
This decision was taken very reluctantly by our senior team based on further advice from infection prevention control, taking into account the outdated design of our maternity unit at St Mary’s. This is also in line with Dorset County Hospital which also does not have partners staying overnight in a bay with women and babies.
We also have to take into account helping to protect the privacy, dignity and safety of all mothers and their babies in our maternity wards. We want to ensure that our mothers are able to have protected time and this is not possible with visitors there 24 hours a day. The midwifery matrons are aware that most service users find it very comforting to have a relative or their partner present but that in a shared ward, they also have concerns about sleeping while strangers are awake and in the same room.
We have worked hard to ensure that not all partners are banned from staying overnight but instead individual decisions are made for those women who have special circumstances, such as those with disability, significant communication challenges or complex medical, mental or social factors which necessitate additional social support. We have accommodated postnatal women in other areas such as the birth centre and the bereavement suite in order for them to have their partner stay overnight. Both of these areas have ensuite facilities which are necessary when a partner is accommodated overnight.
The visiting risk assessments will be kept under review by the Trust in line with national guidance and local prevalence of Covid as well as taking into consideration our estate and footfall in certain areas. Our visiting guidance for maternity are published here.
National award nominations for UHD
Dorset's integrated care system (ICS), Our Dorset, has been shortlisted in five categories for this year's HSJ (Health Service Journal) Awards, including two nominations for Integrated Care System of the Year and Performance Recovery.
The HSJ Awards is an annual event that celebrates the very best of health care across the UK. Of the 1067 entries for this year’s awards, 219 projects and individuals made it to the final shortlist, including the five Our Dorset projects.
Our Outpatient Assessment Clinic at Beales is up for two awards, Performance Recovery and ICS of the Year for the partnership with Arts University Bournemouth to design the clinic in a way that helped visually guide patients through their journey.
The Dorset Medical Examiner programme, which scrutinises deaths across the county and gives the bereaved a voice to raise any concerns, is one of those in the running for ICS of the Year.
For a full list of the nominations visit the HSJ website here.
Art for outpatients at the Outpatients Assessment Clinic
University Hospitals Dorset commissioned students from Arts University Bournemouth to create artwork for the community outpatients assessment clinic @ Dorset Health Village.
Students were set with two briefs, the first, was to design the artwork for the main waiting area. The students worked together creating a character called ‘Pala’ in the context that ‘It's All About People’, the character was designed to help patients feel that they are more than just numbers while waiting, and the artwork encouraged the community to follow guidelines for a healthy lifestyle.
In the student's second brief, they were tasked with creating a piece to help to support patients navigating through the clinic, reducing anxiety and making the space more friendly. They worked with existing artwork and colours of clinical zones, with the main focus on health and wellbeing, creating an extension of the ‘Pala’ character throughout the facility. Students worked in a mixed team to organise, print and install the artwork on-site for two days.
Monica Franchin, senior lecturer for interior architecture and design at BU said: “It was an amazing experience for the students, responding to a live brief with a meaningful outcome, supporting the community and the NHS, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Trust welcomes Italian midwifery students
Staff at University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) hosted a group of midwifery students from Italy on Thursday, who visited St Mary’s Maternity Unit in Poole to learn more about the NHS and maternity services in the UK.
The visit was organised by Professor Mauro Barchiesi from the Università Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona, and involved 10 first and second year midwifery students.
Students had the chance to meet various members of staff working across the unit during guided tours of the maternity wards, and learn about the future of maternity services for Dorset, including the development of UHD’s BEACH (Births, Emergency, And Critical care, children’s Health) building at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital site. Their visit also provided the opportunity for UHD staff to discuss the prospect of international recruitment and career opportunities provided by the trust next year.
The day was of particular significance to Professor Mauro Barchiesi in the wake of Brexit and the pandemic. “Our visit has been a long time coming following two previous cancellations, and we are delighted to be the first international cohort welcomed by the trust post-pandemic. An initiative like this really unites us and is a clear sign that our friends in the NHS, and within our own Italian health service, have been able to overcome the challenges caused by Covid-19. It has been a unique and successful day for my students and myself, and is hopefully the starting point for future collaboration and further initiatives between us.”
Kerry Taylor, head of midwifery for UHD, said: “We’re delighted to have been able to host Professor Barchiesi and his students today. It’s been a great opportunity to showcase all the things we do well here at UHD, and to show our maternity unit in full working order. It was a very busy day for us in the unit, so the students were able to come in and see the pace that we work at in UK midwifery, along with the services we’re able to offer. The students were delightful and it’s been lovely to share experiences.”
Re-introduction of masks in all areas from today
We have reviewed the current and predicted data around COVID-19 and in response to the increasing numbers of staff and patient illness we have taken the difficult decision to revert back to mask wearing in all areas.
We will therefore be asking our staff and visitors to wear masks in all of our buildings from today (4 July) until further notice.
We recognise how difficult it is to make this change, but we are aiming to protect our staff and patients as much as possible.
Thank you for your ongoing kindness and understanding as we get accustomed to mask wearing again.
