Burton's Discharge Unit and Rotary Club providing patients with essential food 'hampers'
The Discharge Assessment Unit (DAU) at Queen’s Hospital Burton is working with the Burton-upon-Trent Rotary Club to provide hampers of essential food items to patients who are being discharged home and may not have essential supplies.
The Rotary Club works with several local supermarkets to collect donations, and for this initiative they are working in partnership with Waitrose.
Not only does this ensure that patients leaving our care are best equipped to be as comfortable as possible in the days and weeks following their discharge, but it also benefits any of their carers, prevents delayed discharging, reduces the patients’ length of stays within DAU, and ultimately, creates more capacity within the Trust.
Carl Dutton, Senior Charge Nurse at the DAU, said that “nobody who has received the ‘hampers’ takes it for granted.
“We have always provided some sort of food parcel to patients being discharged, but thanks to the generosity of the Rotary Club in partnership with Waitrose, we’re able to give them an extensive ‘care package’ that affords peace of mind to those who have stayed in our care for a while and may be nervous about leaving.
“Every time we’ve provided one of the ‘hampers’, their response is so warm, and they are really impressed by the quality and quantity of the items we provide.
“Of course, we prioritise long-lasting food and basic items – such as a range of tinned goods, tea and coffee, crackers and extra long-life milk. That way they have the very basics should they have no next of kin or carers who could do this for them.”
The DAU has been in place at Queen’s Hospital Burton for just over 12 months, transitioning from a discharge lounge to a full DAU assessment unit, discharging over 200 patients every week.
Hannah Timms, Matron for Discharge and integration for DAU said: “When someone has been in hospital for a very long time, they will be very apprehensive to go home. Patients who come to us do have extra care needs and may not be able to arrange for the supply of these essential items without our help.
“The hampers really emphasise to them that things will be okay when they’re alone and at home again.
“After all, this is the final part of the patient journey and their final impression of UHDB, so it has been amazing to have this bonus to show to our patients just how much we care for them and their health. We of course thank Mel Thomas [President of the Burton-upon-Trent Rotary Club] and the Rotary Club for the help they’ve provided.”
Mel Thomas told us about how this campaign came about and how fulfilling it is to help make a difference to patients.
“The Rotary Club supports a range of great projects in the area, and this one in particular supports elderly people in the DAU – a very good discharge unit I should add – if they haven’t got any help at home.
“After I joined the Rotary Club in 2019, we were inspired by a similar project that had been started by the Caterham Rotary Club in Surrey and I recommended we should do something similar here.
“It feels so rewarding to be able to play a part in not only helping the community, but freeing up space for other patients who are soon to be discharged. We couldn’t be more eager to help.”