Design & Dignity - Irish Hospice Foundation

Posts Tagged ‘Design & Dignity’

Rose Room Refurbishment for University Maternity Hospital Limerick

Posted on: March 7th, 2017

University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) has been granted funding to refurbish their Rose Room as part of The Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) and the HSE’s Design & Dignity Grants Scheme which transforms hospital spaces for patients at end of life. Approximately €7,200 has been provided – €5,003 of which is a Design & Dignity Grant with the remainder coming from UMHL. Marie Hunt, CMM2 Bereavement Counselling Midwife, UMHL, said: “On average there are 4,500 babies born here every year. Although the majority of women presenting at the Antenatal Clinic have a positive outcome, sadly there are women who experience fetal loss or fetal abnormalities.

Our ‘Rose Room’ is a quiet room for compassionate care where parents can receive difficult news in privacy. It is situated adjoining one of the main ultrasound rooms with an interconnecting door. When a doctor or ultrasonographer identifies a fetal abnormality on the ultrasound scan or when a woman/couple have been asked to return to the hospital for the results of diagnostic tests, there needs to be a private dignified comfortable space where they can be met and cared for. For the remainder of their antenatal care the women need to have this space available for them if they wish,” said Ms Hunt.

Refurbishing the room will include painting the door and walls, change of flooring, installing soft lighting, removing the wall cupboards, installing soft furniture and adding an art feature. Clinical staff have been involved in drawing up the plans from the beginning, and many of the ideas have come from midwives, doctors and ultrasonographers working at the front line. “The newly refurbished Rose Room will represent our commitment to providing sensitive and compassionate care to women and their families when receiving bad news while providing a private and dignified space for them to receive their care,” added Ms Hunt. The Design & Dignity scheme previously funded a mortuary refurbishment in University Hospital Limerick as well as family rooms in St John’s Hospital and Nenagh Hospital and a bereavement suite in Ennis Hospital. Mary Lovegrove, Design & Dignity Project Manager with the IHF said: “The Design & Dignity programme has been running since 2010 and has funded 32 hospital projects across Ireland to date. Four important projects have already benefitted from the UL Hospital Group. We hope that this new ‘Rose Room’ will offer parents a dignified private space to be together at an intensely emotional time.

“Our vision for the Design & Dignity project is for an end of life sanctuary in every public hospital in the country by 2021 with approximately 60 projects completed as well as a HSE National Mortuary Capitals Programme underway,” concluded Ms Lovegrove.

Design & Dignity is a partnership project of the IHF and HSE Estates and originated in the IHF’s Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme. The HSE has adopted Design & Dignity Guidelines for all refurbishment and new builds.

Caption: Pictured recently are Staff at University Maternity Hospital Limerick including Noreen Mann, Eileen Ronan, Eileen Quinlan, Jean Rafferty, Maria Gibbons, Rita O’Brien and Marie Hunt. UMHL has been granted funding to refurbish their Rose Room as part of The Irish Hospice Foundation and HSE’s Design & Dignity Grants Scheme. The IHF receives core funding from Pobal from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government’s Scheme to Support National Organisations 2016-2019.

DESIGNER LOUISE KENNEDY OPENS FAMILY ROOM IN NENAGH HOSPITAL

Posted on: March 13th, 2014

Acclaimed designer Louise Kennedy returned to her native Tipperary today (12^th March) to open the first family room in Nenagh Hospital which is for relatives of patients who are seriously ill or near the end of life and those families who are bereaved.

The room was funded under the Design & Dignity Grants Fund which is operated and co- funded by the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).The new facility cost approximately €35,000 from the Design & Dignity Fund

The Design & Dignity Fund was instigated in October 2010.A total of 11 projects in acute hospitals countrywide are being supported by the Fund and so far five facilities have been completed.

Located near the main entrance to the hospital, the new family room was created from combining two small rooms’ measuring12sq meters in total. The clever use of space has allowed the hospital to have a tea and coffee making facility, a couch, armchairs and a “pull out” bed should relatives wish to stay overnight near their dying loved one.

Speaking at the opening, Louise Kennedy commented: “” Our Late father Jimmy Kennedy spent time in Nenagh Hospital, he received amazing care from the very dedicated nursing team who also gave my family the support we needed at a very vulnerable and anxious time. It is such a welcome facility that Nenagh Hospital now has a family room for loved ones to grieve privately and to be in a calm and peaceful environment.”

Ann Doherty, CEO of UL Hospitals, commented: “Families need a private dignified space during this most critical time. Today we are pleased to open a new facility that will offer some comfort to families when they need us most. They can stay day and night while their loved one is coming to the end of their lives. Nenagh Hospital is committed to improving end-of-life care. We aim to ensure that patients and families who are with us during their final journey will have a peaceful and dignified experience.”

NenaghHospital’s Specialist Palliative Care Nurse Carmel Sheehy was instrumental in the development of this room, said: “This family room was both a practical and a profound project. It involved a lot of skilled people working collaboratively on every aspect of this facility: design, interior colours, lighting, artwork, acoustics, fabrics and furnishings. We are proud of what has been created and hope this small but dignified space will demonstrate our compassionate care for families. ”

Joe Hoare, Estates Manager, commented: “This project is a product of the ongoing collaboration with the Irish Hospice Foundation on the built environment. The objective was to compliment the culture of care being fostered in the hospital by providing a dedicated space for the benefit of families and also to set an example for others to follow.”.

Mary Lovegrove, Manager of the HFH programme, remarked: 'The Design & Dignity Fund aims to bring design excellence to hospitals in which so many people spend the last days of their lives. The evidence shows that good design can have a very positive impact on how we experience death and dying. We congratulate the hospital management, members of the Nenagh’s End-of-Life Care Committee, the staff at Nenagh Hospital, HSE Estates, Julian O’Mahony of Collins Building & Civil Engineering Ltd and architect Magdalena Kubat for all the hard work it took to complete this project. We hope that this family room will inspire similar projects in other hospitals in the region.'

The 50 guests at the opening included the CEO and other senior management of HSE Mid West; members of the Service Users Group of the hospital; the builders and architects involved in the project; heads of department from Nenagh hospital and other sites in the mid west region; the Friends of Nenagh Hospital and members of North Tipperary Hospice.