NEWS


‘Discreet’ staff attack alert system for inpatient facility


Seeking a high-performance staff attack alert system that would protect staff members, while not causing undue noise and disruption on the ward, staff at Smallwood Manor, a tier 4 hospital in North Staffordshire offering specialist inpatient support to young people experiencing mental health disorders, have specified Pinpoint’s award-winning staff safety system. All staff at the facility, which is part of


Cove Healthcare – and is currently in the latter stages of a major refurbishment (the building was formerly a school) – were equipped with Personal Infrared Transmitters (PITs) from Pinpoint, which explained: “Serving as personal safety alarm, to activate in case of an incident, these discreet devices are concealed within ID badge holders. The PITs have two levels, ‘Assistance’ and ‘Emergency’, which correspond to the severity of the situation, and can be activated by pressing specific buttons on the device. For example, a service-user displaying hostile behaviour may warrant calling for ‘Assistance’, whereas verbal abuse or aggressive gestures require the ‘Emergency’ alarm. When the alarm is triggered, infrared signals are transmitted


to the Advanced Receiver Units installed within the hospital, which in turn transmit the location and type of call to display units throughout the building, as well as communication devices such as pagers and mobiles. This process – from activation to display – takes just 85 milliseconds, allowing responders to act rapidly and intervene in potentially harmful situations.” Smallwood Manor’s team was given


comprehensive training on how to use their Pinpoint system and the protocol in place for responding to incidents. The training was all carried out ahead of the hospital opening, which - it is anticipated - will take place this summer, to ensure that staff were well- versed in using the system.


Planning approval for Grange University Hospital’s mental health treatment centre


A new, 73-bed specialist inpatient service unit (SISU) for mental health treatment at Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, designed by Arcadis IBI, has received planning approval. Arcadis IBI Group was appointed by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board to provide architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture services for the new unit, which will centralise existing services throughout the region to provide optimised healthcare from one location. It will treat adults and older people with mental health and learning disabilities in a low-security setting centred on patient care and recovery. The design concept ‘emphasises


patient wellbeing and the process of reintroduction into the community as recovery progresses’, with the mostly


single-storey building organised around ‘rings of recovery’ that reflect the clinical journey. The architects say that ‘the therapeutic journey’ is reinforced by the division of the space into wards catering to the specific recovery needs of service- users. Shared office facilities and breakout spaces ‘help dissolve department barriers, and promote collaboration between staff members’. Each ward provides access to


therapeutic outdoor areas, such as a courtyard or recreational green space, while the site is located next to a mature line of trees that envelop the building, and create a calming atmosphere for patients and staff alike. ‘Environmental health’ is also prioritised, with the project designed and created in partnership with Kier Construction, AECOM, DSSR Consulting Engineers, Curtins, and The Urbanists, to garner a BREEAM Excellent rating. Arcadis IBI Group’s design will also qualify it as a Net Zero Carbon building, meeting the targets in the NHS Wales Decarbonisation Strategic Delivery Plan.


THE NETWORK | MAY 2023


Wrexham Maelor Hospital’s activities room transformed into café


Patients on Wrexham Maelor Hospital’s older person’s ward can now pop out for tea and cake with their families. Staff from the hospital’s Morris


Ward, and its Estates Team, have transformed a former activities room into The Morris Café for their dementia patients. They have also created a ‘bus stop’ outside the café with a timetable to give patients the feeling of going out with fellow patients or to see their visitors. Matron, Rebecca Jones, said: “This has been a big team effort to get this off the ground and to open so quickly. Staff members even came in on their days off to help set it up. I’m so proud of what everyone has done, and it’s been a massive success. The bus stop was an extra part of the experience of having a day out, so patients come out of the ward, head over to the bus stop, and then they’re let into the café. We want patients to come every mealtime, and in between for snacks and drinks, and to socialise with each other and their relatives.”


The café, which opened in March, and


is free to all patients and their visitors, has freshly painted walls, new wallpaper, a radio, and a piano, while the Maelor Voluntary Service donated the chairs and tables.


Erin Humphreys, the hospital’s head of Nursing in Medicine, said: “This is very much a team idea and effort to open the café. It’s also a good way of giving our patients more independence, and preventing deconditioning, and we’ve already had such lovely comments from patients, saying they feel like they’ve been away. We also have a patient who used to work in a café, and wants to volunteer to help in the café, so we’ve got a tabard for her, as well as a till, to give it that real café feeling.” The café overlooks the ward’s garden, which the team is looking at developing next for patients to be able to use during the summer.


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