A daily newspaper on Glasgow wards to support olde
people
Newspaper trollies have understandably stopped making their round
hospital wards, but an enterprising occupational therapist in Glasgow
helped make sure older people still have something to read.
Lynsey McKee, clinical specialist occupational therapist in older p
services at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, first thought up the idea afte
to source a newspaper for a patient.
‘We did find one for him,’ she says, ‘but it got me thinking about
we could provide for all our patients on the wards. At the moment, a
our patients are really struggling with breathlessness, fatigue and anx
We also have lots of patients who have delirium who can be disorien
and experience distress.
‘Patients are also isolated from family and friends, with limited con
with life outside of hospital. We wanted to offer something that could
with some of those things and that’s how the paper came about.’
She worked with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s volunteer se
who fortunately had Elliot Shaw, a digital art student from Glasgow S
of Art available to help. They sat down to build a template that would
something suitable for the audience.
‘We decided it should be light in theme as most news is currently
COVID-19, which might negatively affect a person’s mental health if
are already in hospital and anxious about what impact COVID-19 ma
on them,’ says Lynsey.
In its place, every weekday The Hospital Times carries a good ne
story, a puzzle and a quiz to offer some cognitive stimulation, and so
facts and historical information about Glasgow to stimulate conversa
and memories.
What started as a 50-copy print run is now circulated by email to
older people’s services in the trust, as well as being used by some o
services and even by staff looking for something to think about other
COVID-19.
‘Patients like thinking about times past, songs they used to sing –
there’s even been some singing on the wards and discussions aroun
answers,’ says Lynsey.
‘One patient said they
enjoyed reading it every day,
it gives her something to do
and the puzzles keep her
brain stimulated, and the
stories are always happy and
make her feel connected with
the outside world.
‘When we developed
this we wanted to make
a difference to patients.
However, we could not have
anticipated that it would have
been so well received and we
are delighted that it is having
a positive impact during a
challenging time.’