"No washing machine on JBU Ward at the Maudsley"

About: NHS Southwark Inpatient mental health care (Southwark)

Posted by Ziggy1 (as a service user), 2 years ago

At the SUC meeting last Monday 7th December, our in patient rep for the JBU ward reported back that there was still no washing machine on this ward, which is usually locked (which it shouldn't be) and consequently patients are still having to do their washing by hand if they're not allowed off the ward. We have tried to negotiate this with the User Liaison meetings with hospital staff to no avail.

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Responses

Response from Su Glazier , Head of Improvement, Innovations and Involvement , South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust on 21/12/2009 at 16:25

Dear Ziggy1,
Thank you for taking the time to share your concern with the Trust. We value having your feedback and have forwarded this concern to Southwark management who are currently looking into this situation. We hope to post a fuller response just as soon as the situation has been thoroughly explored.
With best wishes,

Response from Paul Calaminus , Service Director, Child and Adolescent Clinical Academic Group , South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust on 08/01/2010 at 18:48

Many thanks for bringing this issue to my attention. JBU had moved temporarily to another ward whilst refurbishment work was carried out. They returned to JBU on the 5th January where access to the washing machine is no longer a problem. There were no washing facilities on the temporary ward so ahead of the move this was discussed by staff with the service users in the ward community groups and a solution was decided upon.
It was decided that during the period JBU was temporarily moved the housekeeper would take washing over to the washing machine on JBU on a daily basis, and members of the nursing team would do so over the weekends when the housekeeper was not available. This has been done, and staff had not been aware that this had caused problems. The housekeeper has gone over to JBU with as many as four loads a day and has been making these trips a priority to ensure that service users were not inconvenienced. Staff were not aware that some service users had been inconvenienced or that this situation had caused some service users to wash their clothes by hand.
To overcome these difficulties, the staff on JBU have ensured that the clothes washing facilities have been a standard agenda item in the ward community meetings, as well as staff emphasising to service users how to get their clothes laundered. I recognise that the situation has not been ideal, but I am pleased to tell you that the refurbishment work has gone well and on schedule, and JBU is now back in its usual environment.
I apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you have any further concerns and would like to discuss this issue further, Ann Carrington, General Manager for In-patient Services will be happy to meet with you to hear your concerns. Please phone 020 3228 2892 to arrange a time to meet with Ann.

Response from on 12/01/2010 at 16:27

Thank you from the SUC rep for the JBU ward
(We think SUC stands for Service User Council)