Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSNursing staff inspired to assess lifestyles
A pioneering service aimed at improving the lifestyles of hospital patients has inspired nursing staff to do the same.
For the last six months, nurses on 10 wards at Stockport Foundation Trust have been screening patients on factors such as diet and smoking, with the option of referring them to a community specialist who visits them while in hospital and then follows up post-discharge.
Nurses use a one page form to assess patients and referral is done electronically via the trust computer system.
Trust deputy director of nursing and midwifery Nicola Firth told Nursing Times staff involvement with the service had led to nurses themselves wanting to use it to improve their lifestyle.
As a result, she said the patient assessment form was currently being adapted for use by nursing staff who could then refer themselves to the services on offer.
Ms Firth said: “It’s a testament to the service’s success that staff are wanting to get involved themselves.”
Results from a recent Nursing Times survey found 79 per cent of nurses said their trust did not give enough priority to nurse health and wellbeing.
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Readers' comments (2)
mike | 13-Jul-2010 12:22 pm
About time! I think anything that improves anyones lifestyle is a great thing, but why has this taken so long?
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Matthew Lloyd | 13-Jul-2010 1:48 pm
This was something I was trying to set up when I launched the in-hospital health promotion project at the last NHS Trust where I worked. Unfortunately, it seems to take such a long time to get something like this set up due to all the buarocracy involved (and yet if you look at the Government white paper 'Ambitions for health' one of the things it talks about is delivering health promotion in acute settings - the same white paper was where the 'Change for Life' campaign came from). But, yes it can be frustrating for such simple things to take so long to get implemented!!
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