"Exercise Department"

About: South London And Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Posted by a friends who seen a big change (as a friend), nearly 2 years ago

I visited a friend recently in Bethlem Royal Hospital who been in mental health services for serveral months now. I seen a complete transformations in his behaviour and mood so I asked him what was different to all the other treatment he has recieved in the past.
He couldn't have talked highly enough of the exercise department at the hospital. He says the lady that helped him was extremely positive and made it exercise available for him by offering him 1 to 1 treatment buidling up to a small groups into larger groups with a hugh range of activities, swimming, sport and cycling.
However, he couldn't understand one thing. The whole exercise department is run by one person at the Bethlem. To me the hospital seems extremely big and how one lady serves the whole hospital I'll never know. This is made such a hugh differnce to my friends I can only ask why don't we have more exercise staff available for the patient to take full advance of the excellant service.

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Responses

Response from Su Glazier , Head of Improvement, Innovations and Involvement , South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust on 06/07/2010 at 16:34

Many thanks for taking time to post this concern. We are really pleased that you have seen such a positive change in your friend who is a patient in Bethlem, which he attributes to his involvement in the Exercise department there. We will feed this back to the staff member concerned. We will also get back to you about your and his concern about the limited staffing of this department when we have looked into it further.
Best wishes,

Response from Gabrielle Richards , Professional Head of Occupational Therapy , South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust on 12/07/2010 at 15:14 We have made a change

Thank you very much for your feedback concerning physical activity at The Bethlem Hospital. There are a wide variety of activities that take place on the site, and the exercise staff who work for the trust are committed to continuous improvement of the services provided.
Over the past month or so, we have been able to provide another member of staff who works at the Bethlem 2 days per week. This is not enough so we are now working on how more supported activities can be provided to sites across the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
I have passed on these comments to the member of staff concerned which has brought a very large smile to her face whilst saying “It’s great knowing that I have made a difference”.