Charity backs staff ideas for patient care

The charity invited Royal Free London staff to apply for grants to improve the experience of patients. Twelve applications – ranging from £911 to £10,000 – were approved, supporting enhancements driven by frontline insight.

One grant will fund digital waiting-time screens in North Mid’s radiotherapy department to provide real-time updates for patients. By improving communication, the screens will help ease anxiety and support staff, benefiting more than 1,300 patients each year.

Brishna Mohammad, the project’s lead, said: ​“This grant will enable us to provide our patients with clear, up-to-date information, directly supporting improvements in their cancer treatment. We are extremely thankful for this opportunity, as without this charity funding it would not have been possible to move forward with patient improvement projects.”

Other grants awarded:

• compassionate, dementia-friendly interventions, including music therapy tools and sensory resources
• improved accessibility to patient feeding with adaptive eating aids
• digital clocks in ICU bed spaces
• blood desensitisation clinic to support patients with learning disabilities who have extreme needle phobia
• healthy conversation cards and MECC volunteer training
• exercise equipment to prevent deconditioning
• digital thermometers for the Hospital at Home virtual ward
• support events for people living with axial spondyloarthritis
• measures to improve outcomes for neurodiverse young people with eating disorders

Applications were assessed by a panel of clinicians and patient representatives.

Warren Sims, panel member, said: ​“Staff identified very real challenges facing patients and proposed solutions that were rooted in daily experience. The quality of applications was impressive – each addressed problems that patients had identified themselves.”