Sensory grab bags to ease patients' stress in Nottingham’s Emergency Department
Sensory grab bags have been introduced at Nottingham's busy Emergency Department (ED) to improve the experience of patients with learning disabilities.
The bags are packed with things such as stress balls, fidget toys, and ear defenders, to help keep anxiety to a minimum, and an alert card and traffic light cards to help patients communicate their needs to NHS staff. They came about after patient Adam Stokes fed back on his positive experience at a hospital in Yorkshire.
Adam, 32, from Nottingham, said: I have a learning disability, and I find busy hospitals very overwhelming and stressful. When I went to a hospital in Wakefield, I was given a similar bag, and it gave me the idea to have something available in my local A&E.
After speaking to the Learning Disability (LD) Liaison Team in Nottingham, they helped create some bags. The bags include things which should help with reducing stress and in being able to communicate with staff.
The cloth bags have a traffic light symbol on the front, which is often associated with learning disabilities and ties in with the traffic light badges worn the LD Liaison Team.
Fiona Hamilton, Acute Learning Disability Liaison Nurse at Nottinghamshire Healthcare - which runs the LD Liaison Team - said: We thought Adam's idea was fantastic and we have been very fortunate to secure funding from Nottingham Hospitals Charity to purchase and provide these sensory bags.
These will be useful for patients who may struggle with the overwhelming sights and sounds of a busy hospital environment. The aim of the bag is so they have readily available resources in the ED to help keep anxiety to a minimum. Patients who have sensory issues and are unable to self-regulate, may otherwise leave the department untreated if they become overwhelmed.
We hope they will be really beneficial to patients and help ensure they can get the care they need.
Rachelle McCarthy, ED Sister at NUH, said: I am so happy Adam approached the LD Liaison Team with his idea. Fiona and the rest of the team have worked really hard to make this a reality, and I am grateful to the charity for funding this.
Adam has bravely shared his experience using ED and the challenges he has faced; this knowledge has helped shape the contents of the bag. ED can be loud, busy, and really overwhelming, and this may mean some patients have difficulty communicating their needs. I really believe this will make a huge difference to our LD patients attending adult ED.
At the moment, the bags are for people arriving at ED, when they don't have time to gather anything they need beforehand. I hope these bags will later be put in place across all hospital admission areas.
Luke Derby, Matron in ED, said The hard work that has been carried out by Adam, Rachelle and the wider team is fantastic. It will greatly improve the patient experience for patients with learning disabilities in ED and they should be very proud of what they have achieved.
The bags are funded by are funded by Nottingham Hospitals Charity. Chief Executive Nigel Gregory said: Being in hospital can be a daunting and worrying experience, especially in an emergency situation like a visit to ED. Thanks to our donors, we're glad to be able to fund these bags for patients with learning disabilities who may find being in hospital particularly challenging. We hope these resources will help patients feel calmer and less anxious during their hospital visits and enable them to receive the care they need.
Amy Eagle, Care Group Director of Community Health and Specialist Services at Nottinghamshire Healthcare, said: It's brilliant that Fiona has been able to help bring Adam's idea to life by securing the monies needed to fund this project. These bags will be really beneficial to patients waiting to be seen in ED, and it's fantastic to be able to work in partnership with our colleagues at NUH to bring patients the best possible experience.
After launching the bags initiative at the Queen's Medical Centre, Adam said: These bags will really help people with learning disabilities like me tell the doctors and nurses how you feel and explain your needs. They will make a difficult time a bit better.
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