Giving back time and space to NHS staff at Stoke Mandeville Hospital
At Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury Sodexo’s personal assistance service, Circles, is helping pressured NHS staff to gain back valuable time and make a positive impact on their welfare. It’s also providing patients with a UK first for an NHS hospital – a dedicated Patient Concierge for its National Spinal Injuries Centre. Read the full case study to find out more.
Caring for our carers
The demands of the pandemic have seen the pressure on NHS staff intensify, at times to the point where taking a break to have that head-clearing chat with a colleague or catch up on family admin has seemed impossible for many. Self-care is critical yet has undoubtedly suffered as medical and support staff work longer hours to fulfil their commitment to patients.
In March 2020 just as the pandemic took its first firm grip, Sodexo was already in discussion with the Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust (BHT) to bring in a new staff assistance service at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury. Recognising the additional demands the pandemic would place on staff, the initiative was fast-tracked and given a rapid green light to go ahead.
BHT Assist is part of Sodexo’s Circles offer, which launched in the UK & Ireland in 2018 to help clients improve work-life balance for their employees. The service at Stoke Mandeville has wellbeing at its heart and focuses on reducing stress, and stress related absence, by giving valuable time back. Any member of the hospital staff can simply go online at any time and request help with a whole range of life’s time-absorbing tasks.
“With many NHS staff working longer days, there’s little time to organise home and family affairs, so this service helps relieve the mental load. Circles replaces the thought of ‘I must remember to do that’ with ‘That’s one less thing to worry about'”
Michael Fildes, Circles Managing Director UK&I
Making a real difference to wellbeing
Over 6,000 NHS staff now have access to the BHT Assist which has been used nearly 4000* times since the March launch, with popular requests covering grocery shopping, home repairs and car maintenance, finding fitness classes and gifting. *Figure 29 July 2021.
One NHS team member turned to BHT Assist when looking for emergency accommodation after leaving a partner. The Sodexo team found a temporary solution while looking for a more permanent apartment. This prompted the employee to send a heartfelt message: “Thank so much for everything. Thank you for finding me a safe place to stay… this was a huge relief to me.”
95% of requests are logged during the typical working day, with staff saving almost three hours of their own time. This can have a significant impact on employee welfare. Over the course of a week/month/year, this can have a significant impact on employee welfare.
The Sodexo team is now developing an app to make access even simpler.
A first of its kind
With the pandemic continuing to put pressure on NHS ward staff and patients isolated from family due to COVID-19 visiting restrictions, Sodexo and the Trust launched a Patient Concierge in the hospital’s National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC) in December 2020.
This is the first patient concierge service at a hospital anywhere in the UK. “The patients in the NSIC are often in for lengthy stays,” says Alex Gallo, Business Director at the hospital. “Their needs can be complex both physically and emotionally so we’re able, through this service, to help reduce stress, create a home from home and allow them focus on rehabilitation.”
Of around 100 patients in the NSIC wards at any one time, both children and adults, over 90% have engaged, a high take-up that shows the value patients see in the service.
“It’s been of huge benefit to patients, some of whom hadn’t had visitors since March 2020. Whether it was just to have a chat, order their favourite food or drinks, help them to make a FaceTime call to family for example, I was able to do that for them.”
Julie Davis, Patient Concierge on the NSIC wards day to day.
The support a Patient Concierge provides is both practical and emotional. “Having someone who is not clinically connected has also allowed patients to open up a bit more about their concerns and anxieties,” says Julie. “It’s so important for people to maintain their connections with home so people can celebrate family birthdays for example. There are so many small things that we take for granted, like buying a card or gift for a loved one, but if you’re bed bound they can feel so hard to arrange.”
Zoey Pullar, Lead Nurse in the NSIC, agrees. “It is lovely to have an addition to the NSIC team who has the ability to focus upon the little things that really have a big impact, from the distribution of parcels to assistance contacting a loved one,” she says.
What patients say
“The service is our only contact with the outside world.”
“Julie was very compassionate and understanding, without her I would not have been able to get things I needed. Top quality service.”
“Julie is very professional and extremely helpful. Her hard work and efforts do not go unnoticed!”
“Julie has integrated herself into the team and the ward environments in a challenging time and has clearly been of huge assistance to our patient cohort. She has also been fundamental in assisting us to widen communication channels. We look forward to seeing the service develop as restrictions are lifted.”
Learn more about Circles
Circles can help with staff and patient wellbeing and so much more. Employers who make a statement that they care about their employee experience can find it easier to attract talent to their business and keep their workforce more productive and engaged. Know more about Sodexo's patient concierge services.