October 12th, 2023

Last month, the Core Team 1E / Critical Care Follow Up Clinic held a Patient & Family Day to enable six patients and their relatives/friends to return to Barts and speak openly about their time in Intensive Care in a peer-support style group setting. All the patients had undergone aortic operations or dissections.

Following the September 30th event, posters were created which, as Eleanor Conrich (Junior Sister ACCU) reports, “provides feedback about the day to our very large group of staff who were unable to attend. What we learn from patients is very beneficial and also encouraging so this is one way we can spread the word! The posters are sent to staff via email and they’re also displayed in handover/break rooms.”

The Guild contributed to the session by awarding a grant which paid for the sandwich lunch that rounded off the morning, which according to one of the posters, “was a fantastic morning where everyone was very open and forthcoming about their experiences of being on ICU and how we can best support patients in the future.”