Leeds Cares NHS charity has made TV and phone calls free to help adult patients communicate with loved ones.
This is accessed through the Hospedia bedside entertainment systems and has been made possible thanks to generous donations to the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Urgent Appeal. Ordinarily, the bedside media service can cost patients up to £7 a day to use.
Hundreds of patients at Leeds General Infirmary and St James University Hospital are benefitting as part of the response in the fight against coronavirus, which has stopped visiting to most patients at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. Staff were keen that patients can communicate effectively with their loved ones.
“It has meant our patients have been able to speak to their families daily without having to use mobile phones. As a lot of our patients are elderly or came in acutely they don’t have a phone with them so has made contacting family so much easier. It has also meant the staff are not having to spend their time having three-way conversations between family and patients, which has saved staff valuable time and also made a better patient experience.”
Jess Farman, Senior Sister on one of the wards
Julian Hartley, Chief Executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals, describes what it means to patients in the video below.
Urgent Appeal Grants
Grants given to NHS charities are used to meet the immediate and urgent needs of patients, staff and volunteers. Funding is also going towards helping partnerships outside hospitals, such as hospices, community healthcare and social care, making sure patients leaving hospital have access to the care they need to recover. In the longer term it will also fund programmes to help staff and volunteers recover fully once the crisis has abated, reducing the long-term impact on them and the people they care about.
About the Urgent Appeal
The NHS Charities Together Urgent Appeal acknowledges and supports NHS staff and volunteers caring for COVID-19 patients. It has been put together in liaison with NHS England and national bodies, our member NHS charities and national giving platforms. Click here to donate.
