Patients and staff benefit from smart charging innovation on ward
Previously, phones, vapes, laptops and speakers had to be charged in the nursing station, which could easily become cluttered.
This innovative solution means people on the ward can choose when to charge their phones and can use them without having to ask clinical staff every time they need to charge a device.
Zara Allali, General Manager for Southwark Inpatients and Place of Safety said:
“This project is part of our work to remove restrictive practice and ensure people keep their autonomy over their possessions. Phone and devices are particularly important for people on our wards and people became frustrated asking ward staff for their devices to be charged and returned.
“We worked together with patients to design this solution – there was a lot of discussion and input into what would work best.
“Patients understandably wanted to be able to have control over charging their devices, so now every patient who comes on to the ward and is given their own locker and pin.”
Phone chargers and charging cables are a ligature risk on inpatient wards so the charging points had to be specially designed.
Zara said:
“It has been through health and safety checks and is installed fairly low on the wall so it is accessible. The box is in a communal area because of ligature risks and has been specially designed to have a sloped top to make it anti-ligature. All staff can see it so you can manage risk well.
“It is working really well at the moment and is freeing up a lot of clinical time for staff which will improve patient care.”
The pilot project will be rolled out to other Southwark wards after a trial period.
John Dickson Ward is an adult inpatient service providing care and treatment for men, aged 16-65, with severe mental illnesses who need 24-hour hospital care.
