Preparing for admission

Assessment

Your initial appointments will involve you talking with a member of the team in order to assess whether or not inpatient treatment might be beneficial for you. In order to do this we might need to meet with you on more than one occasion. We may need to ask you questions that you might have been asked before. During the assessment we will try to help you to work out whether or not you feel ready to face the demands that inpatient treatment will involve. However, we do know you may have mixed feelings about this. If we feel that our service can help you, your assessor will discuss with you the type of help that is available. They will usually recommend that you visit the ward to discuss the treatment in more detail with our ward and day programme staff. If you then decide you would like to accept the offer of admission your name will be placed on a waiting list until a bed becomes available. We will do our best to let you know how long you may have to wait.

However, it may be that treatment with our service is not appropriate. If this is the case then your local team will meet with you in order to review your care plan.

Ward Show Round

If, following assessment, inpatient care is being considered the patient will be invited to have a look around the ward and to meet with staff to talk about what we have to offer in terms of treatment. This gives the patient an insight into the ward and allows them to ask any questions they may have. This is also an opportunity for both prospective patients and ward staff to discuss what expectations they both might have and marks the beginning of a process of working together.

What do I need to bring with me?

Many patients on the ward may expect to stay for several months and, in order to make your admission more comfortable, we do allow you to bring in some personal items. However please remember that storage space is limited.

Wherever possible we encourage all patients to be responsible for their own possessions. We do provide lockers and wardrobes to help you to keep small sums of money and belongings safe. Items such as televisions, stereos, and laptops are allowed but require testing by hospital estates staff before use. We would advise you not to bring valuable items, such as jewellery, onto the ward.

Mobile phones are allowed in designated areas of the ward. Please be aware the taking of pictures, video or sound recording of any person, patient, visitor or staff member is prohibited on all Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust premises without prior permission. Any distribution of such videos or images maybe in contravention of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998 and could lead to prosecution.

The ward has a supply of clean linen and towels as well as duvets and pillows. Duvets and duvet covers from home are not allowed due to health and safety legislation.

Patients are requested to wear appropriate clothing whilst on the ward. In view of the expected weight restoration and change in body shape it is advisable to bring loose, casual clothing. It is not appropriate for short or revealing clothing to be worn.

How does the ward work?

The Ward can be a busy place but most patients soon get used to the routine and feel settled.

On admission you will be assigned your named nurse. They will take the lead in fully assessing your care needs. Your named nurse and the rest of the team will then work in partnership with you to develop a care plan to meet your individual needs.

You can expect to meet with your named nurse between one and two times a week. If your named nurse is away another member of the team will be assigned to oversee your care.

You are free to talk to any member of staff on the unit. It is important that you tell us if there is any aspect of your treatment that you are unhappy with. Please also let us know about any changes in your emotional and physical state.

Group and individual activities

The ward runs a daily programme which consists of a variety of groups and activities. The team will work with you to identify which groups will be suitable for you to attend and you should know what your individual timetable is within the first few weeks of being on the ward. Your named nurse will also help to identify other areas that you can work on by engaging in individual work – either with your named nurse or another member of the team. The majority of groups and activities will take place on Welford Ward but some groups may take place on Forest Grange, where our outpatient service is based. This is located within the same building.

A notice board on the ward provides information about the daily groups and activities.

The ward provides many facilities for our patients, which can be used during day programme or outside of day programme hours including evening and weekends.

These include; board games. TV's, games consoles, DVDs, games and craft materials. The ward also has free Wi-Fi. Please ask any member of staff if you would like to use these or for the username and password for the Wi-Fi.

Mealtimes

Most of our patients are on the weight restoration treatment programme for anorexia nervosa. This programme has specific requirements about what and when patients eat.

A small number of patients who are not on the weight restoration treatment programme may have their dietary requirements and mealtimes planned individually with the multidisciplinary team.

Medication

Medication is provided by the ward. Any medication which has been brought in from home will be assessed by the ward pharmacist before being dispensed on the ward. Please hand over any medication you have brought into hospital to the nursing staff. Also, if your visitors bring any medication onto the ward during your stay, please ensure that this is handed over to nursing staff for the safety of all patients.

There are medication rounds four times a day at: 9am; 1pm; 6pm and 10:30pm.

If you need medication outside of these times then please bring this to the attention of the nursing staff.

If you are on medication and this needs reviewing then this will be done by one of the doctors on the ward. Don’t be afraid to ask the doctor or nursing staff questions about your medication if there is anything you don’t understand or you would like more information. Our pharmacy department can give you a leaflet on medication that you have been prescribed.

Ward rounds

There is a multi-disciplinary ward round which takes place once a week and is held on the ward. You can expect to have a review weekly. Staff who have been involved in your care will attend the ward round. Your consultant psychiatrist will lead your meeting and will review and plan your care in collaboration with you and other staff involved with your care.

Care Programme Approach (CPA) Meetings

In addition to the ward rounds you will also have other meetings where you can discuss your views and review your care plan. These meetings will form part of the Care Programme Approach and will be called CPA Review meetings. You will have a CPA care co-ordinator who will be responsible for organising these meetings and overseeing your care. Your care co-ordinator might be the same person as your named nurse or it might be someone different – for example if you do not live in Leicestershire then it might be someone from your local eating disorders service.

The CPA process ensures that within four weeks of being admitted, there will be a meeting where patients and all relevant healthcare professionals will discuss your views and review your care plan. These CPA meetings will continue approximately every eight weeks throughout your admission. These meetings are central to the process of supporting you in your recovery and helping you with the transition back home. If you wish, you can invite your carer, family members or friends to attend these meetings with you.

If you would like to know more about CPA please ask a member of staff for a leaflet.

Research

We aim to evaluate what we do so that we can develop and improve the care and treatment that patients will receive in the future. As part of the assessment and management of your difficulties, we will use a series of interviews and questionnaires when you are admitted to the unit. These will be repeated during your admission and before discharge and will help to review, improve and shape the service we offer. We are keen to know how you are doing once you have been discharged from the unit, so we will send you the same questionnaires about 3 months after you have left. Completion of the questionnaires is optional and, of course, should you decide that you do not wish to complete the questionnaires your care would not be affected in any way. However we hope that you opt to complete these. They are an invaluable way for us to monitor and improve the service we offer our patients. Additionally we have to evidence to the NHS that the care we provide is effective, and using anonymised (non-patient identifiable) data is key to ensuring continued funding of our ward.

We work in collaboration with other eating disorder services nationally and internationally and have strong links with all three local universities. We continually strive to raise awareness of eating disorders and to promote health and recovery through development of psychological treatments.