Sian Watkin
Because of all the pressures that currently face general hospital staff, the care provided for older people with mental health needs is no where near as good as it should be. I was therefore excited about working on the ‘Let’s Respect’ project, as it has enormous potential to improve standards of care, by helping staff to ‘see’ the individual beneath the mental health issues.The toolkit produced is both user friendly and transferable for many disciplines of staff, it is designed to be thought provoking and to help staff empathise more with the individuals they are caring for.
From a personal stance, the project helped me identify and share ideas and good multi-disciplinary practice with colleagues from across the country.
People I work with are really excited about the launch of the ‘Let’s Respect’ project and are keen to learn from its resources. I am looking forward to utilising these tools as a vehicle to facilitate change. Older people with mental health needs in acute general hospitals often get a ‘raw’ deal as they are unable to advocate for themselves or make their wishes known; I am hopeful therefore, that this project will play a significant role in improving standards of care by raising awareness and levels of understanding.
