Families, Carers and Friends Involvement Group

The focus of this group is how the family and friends (carers) of Trust patients and service users, and those they care for, may be better supported and supporting the implementation and delivery of the Hampshire Joint Carers Strategy and the Southampton Strategy. The group actively monitors our carers action plan and receives regular updates on our implementation of Triangle of Care.

During the last quarter the group have given their views and feedback and suggestions on a variety of topics including:

Continence service – bladder and bowel leaflet

Monitoring the Carers plan

Update on Family Liaison work

Consultation on HIOW People First strategy

Review of Community Mental health and LD services

If you would like to come along or get involved email people participation@southernhealth nhs uk

The following sources of information have been used to produce this report:

Patient/Carers forums

Inpatient community meetings

Community Engagement programme

Social media

Surveys

Service user audits

Transformation projects across the trust

Service engagement activity

Inpatient community meetings

Using the information sources identified above, the report informs the Quality and Safety committee and the Trust Board on:

Trends Learning Actions taken Improvements Future Plans

It is understood that each method of feedback has its strengths and weaknesses. Using all methods of information available enables the Trust to better understand the patient’s experience of our services and is beneficial to help prioritise where to focus effort on action planning It also enables us to identify good practice which can be shared widely.

Feedback on our last insight report

Mindfulness exercises you can

Mindful eating.

This involves paying attention to the taste, sight and textures of what you eat. Try this when drinking a cup of tea or coffee for example. You could focus on the temperature, how the liquid feels on your tongue, how sweet it tastes or watch the steam that it gives off

Mindful moving, walking or running.

While exercising, try focusing on the feeling of your body moving. If you go for a mindful walk, you might notice the breeze against your skin, the feeling of your feet or hands against different textures on the ground or nearby surfaces, and the different smells around you

Body scan.

This is where you move your attention slowly through different parts of your body Start from the top of your head and move all the way down to the end of your toes You could focus on feelings of warmth, tension, tingling or relaxation of different parts of your body.

Mindful colouring and drawing.

Rather than trying to draw something in particular, focus on the colours and the sensation of your pencil against the paper. You could use a mindfulness colouring book.

Mindful meditation.

This involves sitting quietly to focus on your breathing, thoughts, sensations in your body or things you can sense around you. Try to bring your attention back to the present if your mind starts to wander. Many people also find that yoga helps them to concentrate on their breathing and focus on the present moment

The above are examples are not the only ways you can practise mindfulness So many activities can be done mindfully Different things work for different people, so if you don’t find one exercise useful, try another You can also try adapting them to suit you and make them easier to fit in with your daily life, such as mindfully cooking dinner or folding laundry.

CALM YOURSELF WITH A

Star Breathing

Brain Break

Breathe in B r eath e i n B r ea t he ou t tuoehtaerB

Breathe in

Trace your finger up one side of the star, while you take a deep breath in Hold your breath at the point and breathe out as you slide down the other side Keep going until you've gone around the whole star.