Health Matters 79
South // News Improving the Health and Welfare of People with Parkinson’s Disease The HSE’s elderly care services at Wexford General Hospital were commended in a recent awards ceremony for their efforts to improve the health and welfare of people with Parkinson’s disease. WGH’s Day Hospital for the Elderly team received a special commendation award at the inaugural Astellas Changing + Mark Murphy, Chief Executive, IKA and a member of Tomorrow Awards, held at the Royal Astellas Changing Tomorrow Awards Adjudication Panel, College of Physicians in Dublin. Ann Roche, Kate Higgins, Caroline Donnelly, all Day Hospital for the Elderly Team at Wexford General Hospital and Congratulating the award winners in Patricia Kelly, General Manager, Astellas Pharma Co. Ltd WGH, the hospital’s general manager Lily Byrnes said: “We are delighted with this recognition for our services and we congratulate Ann Roche, Kate Higgins, Caroline Donnelly and all of the team at the Day Hospital for the Elderly at Wexford General Hospital.” “The multidisciplinary team noticed that a large number of patients were referred to a consultant geriatrician regarding Parkinson’s disease. It was decided to set up a multidisciplinary programme to ensure that any patient in Wexford with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s, or their family, had access to a programme of information and support.” The programme runs over eight weeks, and patients are assessed using the Parkinson’s disease rating tool. The award judges felt that the project in Wexford showed a strong community drive to improve the health and welfare of patients with this long term illness, as well as ensuring the best use of hospital resources. The team ascertained the needs of patients and carers, and secured funding for specialist nurse training.
New Initiative to Aid Grieving Families
+ L-R: Bernard Finnegan, Director of Nursing, Wexford General Hospital; Sheelagh Twomey, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Palliative Care, Wexford General Hospital; and Dr Colm Quigley, Clinical Director, Wexford General Hospital
A new symbol to alert patients, visitors and staff that a patient has just died has been launched at Wexford General Hospital (WGH). The ‘end of life care’ symbol, a threestranded white spiral against a purple background, will be displayed on the door of a room or ward where a death has occurred. Speaking at the recent launch in WGH, Bernard Finnegan, Director of Nursing, explained the significance of the initiative.
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“The ‘end of life care’ symbol is a signal to people passing that someone in a room or ward has just died and that a grieving family is nearby. Hopefully, that would lead to noise levels being kept down, privacy to be ensured and for people to be as sensitive as possible. It’s about giving others the respect that you would like yourself if you were in that situation. Up to now there hasn’t been a discreet way of informing people that a death has taken place and we hope that displaying the spiral symbol will prompt an atmosphere of quiet, respect and sensitivity in the immediate area.” Also speaking at the launch to endorse the new symbol, Dr Colm Quigley, Clinical Director and Consultant Physician at WGH said that “Almost 300 people die each year in Wexford General Hospital alone. We know that pain control, privacy, dignity and the presence of family are especially important at the end of life. As staff, we do our best to ensure patient comfort and to offer the privacy of a single room when a person is dying. We try to accommodate families to be present and to provide the support and information they need at this difficult time.”
HSE and WIT Partnership Strengthened A second memorandum of understanding has been signed between the HSE South’s Health Promotion Department and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), which will further enhance the delivery of Social Personal Health Education (SPHE). The successful partnership between the HSE and WIT was initiated in 1993, when SPHE was accredited as an extramural certificate at the college in Waterford. Five years ago, the programme was upgraded to higher diploma (level 8) and Master’s (level 9) status within the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and has since been jointly delivered by WIT and HSE staff. Speaking at a ceremony to announce the memorandum, Andy Walker, Regional Health Promotion Manager for HSE South, said that “the HSE and WIT are committed to continuing the delivery of these unique programmes of study for the foreseeable future and intend to continue to support front line staff to deliver high quality health promotion to those most in need." To date, there have been 44 graduates from the higher diploma programme and seven Master’s graduates. A comprehensive recognition of prior learning (RPL) programme is also available to support those without the necessary entry requirements to get onto the higher diploma programme. + Pictured at the signing of the second memorandum of understanding between the HSE South’s Health Promotion Department and WIT were: Seated (L-R): Dr Michael Harrison, Head of Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Science, WIT; and Andy Walker, Regional Health Promotion Manager, HSE South. Standing (L-R): Catherine O’Loughlin, Health Promotion Officer, HSE South; Teresa Hennessy, Health Promotion Officer, HSE South; Beatrice Barry-Murphy, Course Leader, HSE; Dr Paula Carroll, Course Leader, WIT; Rosie Donnelly, WIT; Mairead Loughnane, WIT; and Joan Ita Murphy, Health Promotion Officer, HSE South
07/06/2011 12:28:46