"Feeling isolated with no mental stimulation"

Dear Steiffbear,

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback on behalf of your friend. Your post has prompted several discussions over the past few days to look at what we do in our sub-acute ward to prevent functional decline and isolation. As you know, people can be in this ward for extended periods (an average of 20 days), and this in itself is isolating. We would very much appreciate speaking with you or your friend to get more details about the experience they had. Please feel free to call me on 0472846355 anytime Friday onwards to discuss. In the interim, I am able to provide the following response.

There are a number of formal and informal processes in place to ensure our sub-acute ward is building functional independence and preventing isolation. We don’t know why these weren’t deployed in your friend's case but staff who met to talk through your feedback have given some thought as to how we can create additional opportunities to improve the experiences of our consumers.

The first thing we will do is to create a specific working group with consumer representation to help us review and re-design some of these programs and to make sure that each client knows they are available and has them deployed. It is sometimes tricky to facilitate some of these programs if people are isolated because of Infection Control risks, or immobile, but we do have processes in place for these circumstances and it sounds like they weren't deployed for your friend for some reason For this, I am very sorry.

In response to your feedback regarding WiFi, this is something we are currently looking into and hope to have addressed in the very near future; our infrastructure limits us significantly and it is not as easy as we would have hoped because of all the issues related to our own firewalls and cybersecurity issues. Having said that, we are able to enable WiFi on individual requests and have done so in the past and we will make sure our clients and families understand that this is available on request.

We are deeply concerned that your friend felt isolated and disconnected from the outside world and concerned that your friend felt dismissed and disregarded because of cognition. We understand that being in care will always be an isolating experience but it is critical that we take the time, especially with people who are feeling fragile in any way, to take the time to listen, understand and respond. I apologise that this did not occur.

We are currently having discussions with our Occupational Therapists and other team members to identify more opportunities for optimal interaction for our patients, in particular for those who aren’t mobile, are feeling a bit down or cognitively challenged or who have infection control barriers in place. We are engaging in a number of initiatives that will ensure staff are focused on truly listening to clients and families. We are looking into practical things such as different clocks and calendars for each room. We have made contact with the local library regarding opportunities to have a visiting service for our clients. We are reviewing our orientation processes for clients and families to the ward to ensure they know what is already available (including orientation to the TV room even when immobile). We will review the role of Allied Health Assistants on the ward to ensure they have more capacity to provide individual support. We will make sure the whiteboards in the room become another mechanism for interaction and orientation. We have a Volunteer Companion Program which is commencing soon that will provide opportunities for social activities with our volunteers who visit the hospital. And we will look for new ideas from our clients.

You will know that Armitage is a tired but much-loved facility and so we are busy fundraising to try to improve the amenities available and this will include getting TV’s into all the rooms. We welcome any other suggestions you may have that will facilitate a better environment.

We have dedicated and passionate staff in Armitage and I know that they were very concerned about your friend's experience, and they are very keen to proactively improve our services. Please feel free to contact me, or the Unit Manager, Chris, if you would be happy to give us further detail, or be involved in our working group. Thank you once again for taking the time to provide the feedback. It sounds like your friend is improving since discharge - most people are much better at home than in hospital - I am glad that was also the case for your friend and I hope they are continuing to do well. Thanks once again for taking the time - I hope we can chat.

Kind Regards, Jan