Matron’s response to PPIF report on Plaster Theatre visit of 12th July 2007
Forum Visit Report prepared by:
Shirley Williams (PPIF Chair)
X (Deputy Chair)
-----Original Message-----
From: McGloin, Lily
Sent:25 July 200712:30
To: Harris, Kim
Subject: RE: Plaster Theatre - report for Matron's input
Hi Kim,
It was interesting comments from the patient forum. Regarding the instructions for children on how to look after their casts I have to say that some of these are babies and young children who have not reached the reading age yet. It seems more sensible to have instructions on how to look after the child’s cast directed towards the carer/parent as they are the responsible adult.
I do understand that having information on say a jacket in advance of the application for children before they come to hospital would be an advantage to show them what type of plaster they were going to have but I don’t think it would be necessary for all patients as one never knows in advance what type of cast is needed after some operations. This is possible for patients in correction jackets and possibly frog/hip spica casts provided it has definitely being decided that they are going into a specific one of these. If for any reason this varies then another problem is created. I do think this information already is passed on by the CNS pre-op.
As regards to the low toilet it is possible I’m sure to get a raised toilet seat and I will look into this. I do have a notice in the toilet highlighting that there are toilets more suitable for patients with disabilities in outpatients as it is a much larger room. By getting one of these raised seats one has to consider that when not is use it will have to be housed in this small toilet space. This will further reduce the space which may create an extra problem especially with our patients with wheelchairs and various specialised types of casts.
I was sorry no patients were here for their visit as most of the work on Thursday afternoons is main theatre work. It was unfortunate that all the patients came while we were having our interview. Normally it is very busy but that cannot always be planned and I was not given a choice of another time or day.
Best wishes
Lily