A little thank you goes a long way
Thank You Barts Health is a patient feedback portal for staff at Barts Health NHS Trust.
The aim is to help staff see the impact of their hard work through kind messages, videos and photos of patients discharged from their care. Small actions have a lasting impact on patients who may not have a chance to say thank you whilst unwell, scared and whisked through different wards on their hospital journey.
The initiative was born out of the pandemic when incredibly sick Covid-19 patients would move through our ICUs with little follow-up or feedback. Seeing a happy patient at home with their family or hearing that a small action made such a difference and that we were remembered can improve staff health and wellbeing.
Speaking on how the idea came about, Dr Nikhil Ahluwalia, Cardiology Registrar at Barts Heart Centre said:
“I was redeployed to ICU during the first Covid-19 wave. I felt so disconnected from the intubated patients I was seeing and the relentless turnover meant that by the next shift, they had often moved. I felt out of my depth and unsure if I was helping at all. An ECMO patient we cared for on ICU sent a video a few months later of her skiing and the joy amongst the whole team was palpable. This human impact validated the hard work we were all putting in and made those dark shifts worthwhile.
In Cardiology, seeing the impact of your treatment through follow-up clinic provides immense satisfaction. Thank You Barts Health was designed to give all Barts staff that beautiful moment by giving our patients the opportunity to share their thanks, progress and memories of kind actions whilst in hospital.”
A hospital admission is more than just the medical treatment or operation they receive. For a patient, every staff member contributes to their recovery and it’s important that we have a way to recognise this and allow patients to express their gratitude to the whole team.
Thank You Barts Health was developed by Drs Nikhil Ahluwalia, a Cardiology registrar and Anthony Bastin, ICU Consultant and Lead for the ICU Follow-up service. It was supported by a generous grant from Barts Charity. Patients can leave messages, photos or videos via the online portal and all Barts Health staff can view these on the Intranet, filtering by dates, ward and department to find the patients they have cared for.