Poole Hospital’s radiology department improves care

Senior radiographers Agnes Gouveia and Tracey Tuskin with assistant radiographer Debbie Murphy.

Poole Hospital’s radiology department has implemented several new methods to make x-ray examinations more comfortable for patients with dementia.  These include booking in patients with dementia at less busy times, changing the patient’s clothes in the x-ray room rather than a separate room, thoroughly preparing all equipment beforehand, decreasing the number of staff involved and working more closely with a patient’s carers.

This new approach is expected to create a calmer and more reassuring environment so that examinations can be undertaken with the least possible distress to the patient.  One patient who became distressed during previous examinations has been scanned with very little discomfort under the new system.  The entire radiology team is undergoing dementia training and has been advised on how to adapt its scanning areas to become more dementia friendly.

Dementia nurse specialist Lynsey Moore said: “I’m very pleased that these new ways of working have been introduced into our x-ray examinations.”  Moore received the Innovation and Improvement Award at last year’s Poole Hospital Awards for her work on promoting dementia care and awareness.

See this report on page 10 of the May 2018 issue of RAD Magazine.