Tony on Tour: food, people and kindness

Last Friday morning, I took a tour of our Surgical Division facilities. Going out and meeting folk working across our hospital and community services is something I do every week and it’s something I really enjoy doing. I had visited the wards and departments before, but this time my colleague Chris O’Loughlin, Divisional Nurse Director, took me around in a way that mirrored our patients’ journeys.  Also, I hadn’t been able to visit our theatres before and so I was particularly keen to see these. These walkabouts also provide a useful opportunity to speak with patients and hear their personal accounts of the care they are receiving.

I have to say I was impressed. A lot of our buildings are quite old and hard to adapt to reflect contemporary hospital health care. 

However, nearly everywhere I went to was clean, bright airy and most of all surprisingly calm! There were a couple of places still waiting to be upgraded and a ceiling in one of the blocks leaked every time it rained. Ironically, this was a consequence of the significant building work going on adjacent to the block, where our new Urgent and Emergency Centre is being constructed.

The theatres were a joy to visit. I was even able to see a robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy operation in progress. This was one of the highlights of my walkabout. I was amazed by what I could see on the screens, as the surgeon operated. He wasn’t even anywhere near the patient. One of the things that excited me about seeing this procedure in action was knowing the patient would only be in theatre for a couple of hours, compared to the alternative - a retropubic prostatectomy - which can take 8 hours or more. This has to be good for the individual. Likewise, afterwards the patient would probably only be in hospital for a couple of days afterwards, rather than the much longer period associated with the retropubic operation.

The other ‘take home’ message for me has to be the enthusiasm, confidence, pride and commitment I found in all the colleagues I met. I saw smiles, heard laughter, and even witnessed one colleague dancing down the corridor, backwards. Now don’t get me wrong. I only met a tiny number of the 5,500 colleagues who work in our Trust during my visit. I know that the pandemic, workforce shortages, industrial action and the unremitting demand for care has left some of my colleagues understandably exhausted, depressed, and even considering leaving the NHS. As a Trust, we put a great deal of effort in looking after the wellbeing of our colleagues and finding ways to support them in all aspects of their life. It was, however, refreshing to see so many happy staff. And happy staff make for happy patients.

I did get to speak with some patients along the way. One conversation took me aback somewhat. As can be found in every hospital, every patient has an information board above their bed, with their name, the name of their consultant and named nurse, expected date of discharge and any other special information. On one patient’s bed board, I could see he was a vegan. Brimming with the confidence that comes from knowing our catering colleagues have won so many prizes, I asked what was the vegan offer like. Looking me straight in the eye, he uttered the single word: “s**t”. For a couple of seconds, I was stuck for words. I recovered and we explored why he was unhappy with the food he had received since being an inpatient. The Ward Manager, who was with me, promised both of us that she would get things sorted as soon as I had left the ward.

Outside the bedroom bay, she said that the patient hadn’t complained to her or her colleagues about the food. If he had, she would have got something sorted straightaway. There was something there for me about not waiting for complaints to find out what is important for individuals. This was something I understood more after undertaking the ‘Oliver McGowan mandatory training on learning disability and autism’. This is now a requirement for all health and social care staff. I don’t have room here to discuss the content, but look here, and find our more. It’s well worth it.

Finally, in my conversation with the patient who wanted a vegan diet, I mentioned that as a vegetarian I felt well catered for by our catering staff, something he agreed with. Imagine my dismay then upon reading about some of my favourite food choices being described as Ultra Processed Food (UPF). Now, apparently UPFs are regarded in some circles as being the new villain of health problems such as obesity and have also been associated with early deaths. So, my dismay resulted from finding out that baked beans, wholemeal bread and even my tasty vegetarian sausages are all described as UPF. Baked beans are accepted as one of your ‘five-a-day’ vegetables. Hmm, it seems to me a bit like how our vegan patient was unintentionally dealt with; assumptions can be very unhelpful and to be actively avoided, if a truly balanced sense of the world is to be achieved.