Grab bags support patients with learning disabilities
People with learning disabilities attending Emergency Departments (EDs) and Acute Medical Units (AMUs) will have access to new resources designed to make their hospital experience a little easier.
Learning Disability Liaison teams at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, North Devon District Hospital and Torbay Hospital have successfully secured funding through our Chairman’s Initiative to develop a series of resource ‘grab bags’.
The bags contain a range of activities, sensory and calming resources to help reduce anxiety and support people while they are in hospital. They also include portable DVD players and films, alongside laminated hospital communication books featuring symbols and pictures to help explain hospital stays, procedures and treatments and support different ways of communicating.
The Learning Disability Liaison teams are available during the daytime from Monday to Friday, so the grab bags will also provide ED and AMU colleagues with useful resources to support patients when the liaison teams are not available.
In Exeter, the resource bags and DVD players were handed over by Learning Disability Liaison Nurse Jane Heydon. The photo shows from left to right: Jane Heydon, Learning Disability Liaison nurse, Charlotte O’Neil, Senior Healthcare Assistant, Amanda Mitchell, Ward Sister and Amanda Brooks, Clinical Manager.
The new resources will help colleagues support communication, reduce anxiety and create a more positive hospital experience for people with learning disabilities.