Patient experience champion first to receive bronze and silver awards for going above and beyond

28/09/2021

An activities coordinator for patients has received both bronze and silver awards for her extra efforts as Patient Experience Champion.

Diane Sweeney, who works at Mold Community Hospital, volunteered to be a Patient Experience Champion and has created and developed exciting activities for her patients. Diane involves not only the patients and staff, but also all their relatives, to help her identify their interests, bring out their personalities and encourage social interaction.

Diane said: “I’ve always felt that the older generation have something very valuable to share, we should be listening to their memories and experiences. Before COVID-19 local schools came to visit regularly and this benefited both the patients and children. We also had PAT therapy sessions which adds positive outcomes for our patients.

“When COVID-19 happened, everything stopped and overnight I became a friend, family member and an activity co-ordinator. The patients and relatives really struggled because they had no familiar faces and families could not visit.

“To help the situation I started making memory books for the patients. This included participation from their families. I asked families for pictures and captions and these books gave us all something to chat with the patients. All staff can use these books and it can then go with the patients on the next stage of their journey.

“I’m delighted to receive both awards, and I’m already working on my Gold Award. We are all a family in Mold Community Hospital, we work hard to ensure that the patients experience is positive and this is achieved by creating activities, listening to concerns and most importantly focussing on what is important for each patient. I can only achieve this with the support of my colleagues; I couldn’t do any of this without Debbie our housekeeper as she is a huge part of what I do.”

Diane has also gathered information and pictures of local care homes to show patients and help their transition from hospital to a care facility. She also arranges virtual tours so that patients can see where they are going once discharged.

Over 90 members of staff from all hospitals, clinical and service areas in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have signed up to become champions. The patient champion role allows members of staff to support the Patient and Carer Experience team by focusing on collecting patient feedback and driving change.

Katie Hender, Patient Experience Manager, said: “The effort and thought that Diane has put into the Patient and Carer Champion initiative is phenomenal. We are so proud of her achievements and we are very excited to see her work for her Gold Award. We are very grateful to all our Patient and Carer Champions and we would like to thank them for their continued hard work and support.”