Published on: 24th November 2021
A week on Arden Ward
As part of our Great Big Thank You Week, Lesley Loizou (pictured), Arden Ward manager shared her account of a week on the ward and some of the kindness colleagues have shown each other:
"Starting with the weekend, our first challenge was a former patient who had been admitted to a medical ward at Stepping Hill. His community placement had broken down and he ended up being admitted to the medical ward.
Staff were with him, but he was struggling and we were asked by the liaison manager if there was anything we could do to support the patient.
Three of our nursing assistants; Steve, Mike and Natalie, agreed to come in on their days off over the weekend to spend time with him on the medical ward.
Their willingness to help improved the patient’s situation and made for a much calmer weekend for everybody involved that otherwise might have been very different.
Later in the week, nursing assistant Hannah told me she leaves home early for her long day to collect her female colleagues before work.
She goes from her home to Gorton and then to Heaton Moor, before coming to work, as she wants to keep her female colleagues safe when it’s dark and at a time of heightened anxiety about attacks on women.
I feel so proud that our team have such a genuine level of care for each other.
I then met with a member of the team who caught covid and unfortunately ended up in hospital very unwell.
They originally said they didn’t want to be vaccinated. But after speaking to Agnes Wiafe, a big advocate on our team for people getting vaccinated, Olalekan and myself, about their risk factors they changed their mind and have since had their vaccination.
It was a great example of the empathy and mutual respect we have in our team.
Finishing off the week, we have some positives in our patients picking a tropical beach image for the redecorated TV lounge, our new sensory room is almost complete and we’ve taken steps towards creating some outdoor space for our patients with the help of senior leaders.
There’s still time for one more example of our team working for each other. A nurse on nights became unwell at short notice and had to cancel a number of night shifts, so the team pitched in with Sam, Rachel and Tayo picking up night shifts to cover.
These sort of things happen day in and day out here, and in teams across the Trust, but I just wanted to highlight what my colleagues do and the huge amount of kindness and help they have for each other and our patients.
They truly care for each other and I’m really proud of them, thanks team!"