The Big Hospital Experiment

[Vagus]

Does anyone else watch this?
I wonder what everyone thinks about the concept. Personally I think it’s a really good idea and find the programme very interesting.

[ummmm]

I've watched bits of it. It is a good idea. I couldn't do it.

[hc4361]

I thought hospitals already had volunteers that helped carry out time consuming tasks such as feeding those who can't feed themselves.

I haven't seen the series, so what is new about this concept?

[ummmm]

Do they, hc? I've never seen volunteers do that. They use volunteers to help people find where they are going and to transport patients to and from appointments. In my experience it's nursing assistants who help with the feeding and hygiene.

[Mamyalynne]

It's been brilliant, the way each individual explored their strengths and weaknesses and the huge difference in some of the patients too.

It wasn't always easy to watch but a very worthwhile job.

[Vagus]

The concept of volunteers isn’t new, its the extent of the tasks these youngsters are required to do which is. They change stoma bags, help in end of life care, do hourly obs, etc., all things which ‘normal’ hospital volunteers aren’t allowed to do.
It seems the patients have enjoyed having these young people involved in their care, and the young people themselves are seeing a side of life, and death, which they wouldn’t under normal circumstances stances.

[jackthehat]

Perhaps it is a sort of 'National Service' which could gain wide-spread approval rather than the sort of military service so often debated?

[woofgang]

I am in two minds. Employed staff are required to comply with confidentiality and health and safety requirements and can be disciplined if they don't. I haven't watched the program but wonder how the volunteers are managed and controlled. When I worked in the NHS getting volunteers to do what they should have done and not what they felt they should do was often a nightmare. Feeding and hygiene assistance are a part of patient care and if patients need it then I think the NHS should be paying for it.

[ummmm]

They are doing the job of nursing assistants then. Some of them are brilliant.

[ummmm]

Woof - I assume they have been through some sort of training before going on ward. I don't think they are actually volunteers as such but taking part in an experiment.

[Vagus]

They appear to be managed and controlled very closely, and I would imagine they have all been made aware of the confidentiality aspect. The scheme is following a successful German one.
That’s a good idea jackthehat, everyone would get some benefit from it, not least our overstretched NHS.

[woofgang]

they get two weeks training before they start....my point about being employed is that if you break the rules, there can be sanctions. Its very hard indeed to sanction volunteers.

[Mamyalynne]

//The 14 recruits are put through two weeks of healthcare training, and are then placed on the wards, where they help the nurses with their duties.//

I found this a well balanced article on the series.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/04/the-big-hospital-experiment-review-can-a-volunteer-army-save-the-nhs

[Old_Geezer]

There's something wrong with relying on volunteers. Is something is worth getting done, it's worth paying someone a living wage to do it.

[hc4361]

Certainly my hospital trust uses volunteers on the wards to help with one to one feeding support, bedmaking, hair washing and styling, reading to patients and engaging with dementia sufferers but not stoma care .

[woofgang]

I agree OG

[Cloverjo]

Sounds like candy-stripers in America. Good idea. We should have more of them.

[woofgang]

from this description of candy stripers, it sounds like the ones who do patient care are actually more like work experience for people who want to go on and do some kind of medical or paramedical training. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_volunteer

[janzman]

In episode one you saw a patient having a shave, his name is Tom and he's a personal friend of mine. Because of the surgery he has had he cannot speak and writes everything down. He says the young people were absolutely marvelous and certainly lifted his spirits under the circumstances of cancer suffering.

[hc4361]

That's good to know, janz.

[Vagus]

In an ideal world I would agree with you OG. However the world we currently inhabit is far from ideal and I feel things like this, which help both patients and volunteers, and our overstretched NHS, is absolutely wonderful and should be encouraged.
That’s really, really good to hear janzman.