Three new ways Hartlepool hospital patients can keep in touch with their loved ones

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has launched three new ways for patients and their loved ones to stay in touch, while visiting is no longer allowed due to risk of spreading Covid-19.

Linking Loved Ones aims to help patients feel less lonely, with a dedicated hotline, virtual visiting sessions and an opportunity to send friends and family “letters of love”.

David Piggott, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust’s Quality Improvement Lead and leader of the Linking Loved Ones team, said: “Family and friends’ experiences with our patients really matters and never so much more than during these challenging times.

“We understand separation between patients and their families causes anxiety and we needed to put something in place to help ease this as much as possible.

“It took us just seven days to get the technology up and running, for staff to manage the hotline, to support the virtual visits and to volunteer to read the letters of love.

“These services are brand new and will evolve over time but our aim is to provide comfort to relatives and our patients.”

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Here's the three ways you can keep in touch:

Hotline

Family members calling wards for updates will be swiftly connected to the right members of staff to arrange a time for a return call and prevents loved ones having to call the individual ward where staff may be busy.

A password system will be in pace to maintain patient confidentiality.

The hotline is available via the trust’s main telephone number on (01642) 617617.

Virtual visiting

Virtual visiting allows patients and their families to see each other face-to-face using iPads – some of which have been donated by local businesses, charities and members of the public.

Loved ones will only be connected to the patient after passing a series of security checks.

The patient is made aware of whom is contacting them beforehand and staff will help the patient use the iPad if needed.

Special Hubs will support family members to use the hospital’s computer equipment to see their relative.

The Hubs are repurposed clinic rooms which allow for privacy and are disinfected after each use.

To arrange a Virtual Visit email [email protected] with the patient’s name and date of birth.

Letters of Love

Letters of Love is an opportunity for family members to email letters, photographs or poems to a dedicated hospital email address so they can reach their loved quickly and easily.

Attachments will be printed off, without being read by any member of staff, and delivered to the patient.

If the patient has difficulty reading or is too ill, a selected member of staff will ask permission to read the letter or other attachment to the patient.

Ward staff will use iPads to show the patient any video files that are sent to them.

Email [email protected] and include the patients name and date of birth.

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