Rosary

Third Day at the EICC for the AAGBI Annual Conference. The John Snow Lecture was given by Professor Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director, Healthcare Quality Scottish Government on the topic “Is the NHS Broken?” In a very interesting lecture he discussed what I would call working smarter rather than harder and described a number of new approaches being piloted within the NHS in Scotland that may improve things across the whole of the UK. I was particularly interested in his description of the scheme of having patients (or their family members) write what was important to them in life and have it visible on a whiteboard above their bed. Thereby the patients can be seen as people rather than diseases or symptoms. And furthermore the approach can not only improve their care but also save money. He told the story of an elderly woman who was suffering some mental confusion in hospital and who frequently left her bed in the middle of the night. As a result she needed 24-hour nursing care to keep an eye on her. When her niece wrote up what mattered most to her aunt, top of the list were her rosary beads. Rosary beads that were put away, out of the old woman’s reach. When she was given the beads, she stopped getting up in the night. And other patients walking past could read about them above her bed and would sit with her to do her rosary with her, reconnecting her with people. A heartwarming story about the power of the little things.