Inpatient’s guide

Before you arrive

We hope this information helps you to prepare for your stay here. Please
telephone us as soon as possible if:

• the date you have been given does not suit you, or
• you have any particular requirements for your stay, such as a special
diet.

The telephone number you need will be on your appointment letter, or you
can ask for the relevant department via our main switchboard numbers.

During your stay, if you have any questions about your care or treatment,
please ask the nurse in charge of your care or one of the doctors.

Call us before you arrive...

On the day that you are due to come in to hospital, please remember to read
your admission letter carefully, and telephone the hospital before you set out
from home to check that a bed is available for you. (The telephone number
will be shown on your appointment letter.)

It is also a good idea to telephone the admissions office or ward if you get a
cough or cold and are not sure whether you should come in. If you wish, you
can arrange for a relative or friend to come with you to the hospital. They can
stay with you while you are admitted.

Waiting times

Once a consultant has decided that you need to be treated in hospital, we try
to ensure that you are admitted according the urgency of your condition. Your
operation should not be cancelled by the hospitals on the day of your
admission or after you have been admitted. If it is, you can expect to be
admitted again within one month of the cancellation.

Please note that sometimes our Accident & Emergency department is very
busy and situations arise that mean we have to cancel planned operations so
we can continue to treat emergency patients.

Mixed sex wards

Unless you are in an intensive care facility, you will be nursed in a single sex
bay or room. However, a few of these are within mixed sex wards and visitors
of the opposite sex may be around. Therefore you may wish to bring in
appropriate clothes to wear. If you are unhappy about this arrangement,
please speak to the admissions office or the nurse responsible for your care,
before your admission date. We will try to find you a bed on an all female or
all male ward. In any event, we would like to reassure you that safeguarding
your privacy and dignity is a high priority for all our staff.

What to bring with you…

Your medicines

It is very important that we know about any medicines you have been taking
at home. Please bring them with you along with any special medicine
containers that you have, for example a ‘dossette box’. Once you arrive at the
ward, please give them to a nurse, doctor or pharmacist.

The pharmacist will check the medicines that you bring in with you as they
might be used for you while you are in hospital. If you do not want to use your
own medicines during your stay in hospital, please tell the nurse or
pharmacist.

At the end of your stay, your remaining medicines will be returned to you, if
appropriate, or a new supply will be provided by the hospital.

Staying overnight?

Items you may find useful to bring into hospital with you are:

• your admission letter

• a night-dress or pyjamas
• a dressing gown and slippers
• a hairbrush or comb
• paper tissues
• a towel, flannel, soap, shampoo etc.
• a toothbrush and toothpaste or denture cleaner
• a razor and shaving materials, hairdryer etc.
• spectacles and hearing aid if you need them - labelled or marked with
your name
• dentures and container labelled with your name
• sanitary protection if you think you will need it.
• some money to buy newspapers and other things from the hospital
shop and trolleys and some loose change for the telephone
• the name, address and telephone of your next-of-kin or nearest friend
• things to do, such as books to read, writing materials and stamps

The hospital will provide you with a small locker for your clothes and other
personal belongings. We cannot, however, take responsibility for lost
belongings. If possible, please ask a relative or friend to take large hold-alls
home, as space in the wards is quite limited. It is advisable to leave your
jewellery and other valuables at home.

During your stay

When you arrive on the ward

A nurse or ward clerk will usually greet you and explain the ward routine to
you. Please feel free to ask any questions about your stay and let the ward
staff know if there are any outpatients appointments you will miss while you
are in hospital.

Interpreting services

Interpreters are on hand to help you if your first language is not English.
Please ask the nurse in charge on your ward for more details.

Smoke free environment

UCLH operates a smoke free policy, which applies to each hospital and
means that smoking is not permitted anywhere on UCLH premises including
entrances, grounds and vehicles. There is a smoking advisory service within
the Trust to help patients quit smoking.

Mobile phones

Mobile phones must be switched off at all times on hospital premises,

because the signals can interfere with sensitive equipment and so cause
harm to patients.

Information about your treatment

Your doctor and the nurse responsible for your care will be happy to answer
any questions about your condition or treatment. Please tell them if you are in
pain or discomfort at any time. Information about your treatment is strictly
confidential. We will not pass it on to anyone outside the hospital apart from
your GP, unless you give us permission.

Giving your consent to treatment

If you are going to have an operation or an anaesthetic or are about to

undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment, you will be asked to sign a
consent form.
Your doctor will describe what will happen during the operation how you can
expect to feel afterwards. It is important to understand everything that is going
to happen and you should sign the form only when all your questions have
been answered to your satisfaction.

If you are under 16, your doctor will still explain everything to you and to your
parent/guardian. Your parent/guardian who is responsible for you will be
asked to sign your consent form.

Blood tests

The Government is measuring the spread of HIV infection (the virus that
causes AIDS), and the information collected will help us to plan services for
future. It is for this reason that, if you are having a blood test some blood may
be separately tested for HIV. This will be with your consent. You have the
right to refuse, although we hope you will participate. The blood sample will
not have your name on it. It will be impossible to trace it back to you and
having the test will not affect your care, treatment, job or insurance.

Food on the ward

You may want to have food brought in for you by your relatives.
We discourage this because it will not have gone through the same sort of
quality assurance process as hospital food, which is designed to keep the
risks of food poisoning to a minimum. You eat food prepared elsewhere at
your own risk, and the nurse will make a note of this in your records.

We have strict conditions for bringing food from home into the hospital, which
is detailed in our Food Hygenie Policy. If you wish, please ask your nurse for
a copy of this, together with the catering services and standards that you can
expect during your stay. The name of the catering manager will be given to
you when you arrive.

Restaraunts, refreshments, and vending machines

Each of our hospitals provide facilities for patients and visitors for food and
refreshments at either restaraunts, cafes, or vending machines. The nurse in
charge will be able to let you know if you are allowed to access these facilities
and give you their location.

Hospital staff

All members of staff wear name badges, but if you are not sure who someone
is or what they do, please feel free to ask them to introduce themselves and
explain what they do.

Nurses
There is a nurse in charge of each ward, who is responsible for ensuring that
you receive the best possible nursing care. (Female nurses in charge of a
ward are called Ward Sisters, men in the same job are known as Charge
Nurses.) Please speak to the Sister or Charge Nurse if you have any
questions about your care, or any difficulties during your stay in hospital.

Your named nurse

A registered nurse (or, if appropriate, midwife) will be responsible for your

nursing care, and you will be informed of his or her name. Naturally, if you
need to change wards, a different nurse will be responsible for your care.

Doctors

One of the doctors in your consultant's team will visit you regularly and will be
responsible for your care under the direction of your consultant. If you are
unsure of any aspect of your treatment, you are welcome to ask the doctor to
explain. The consultant and his/her team will also carry out regular ward
rounds with nurses and other staff involved in your care such as
physiotherapists, occupational therapists and social workers.

Staff training

Many doctors, nurses and other health care professionals are trained here at
UCLH. As students they learn from working alongside qualified staff treating
patients. Your treatment may provide an important opportunity for such
training. If so, we hope you will not mind the students' being involved in your
treatment.

You have the right to refuse to take part in student training at any time without
your care being affected at all. If you have concerns about this, please talk to
your named nurse.

Behaviour towards UCLH staff

UCLH is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all members of staff
and any person with permission to be on the premises, whilst providing high
quality care to our patients. All forms of harassment, threats or actual violence
faced by staff from patients, their families or friends are unacceptable and will
not be tolerated.

Enquiries on your progress

Relatives, friends and carers who want to know how you are can telephone
the hospital and ask for the ward you are on. It helps the nurses if your friends
and family can arrange for just one person to contact the hospital to find out
how you are and then tell everyone else who wishes to know.

For reasons of confidentiality we cannot give detailed medical information

over the telephone, but your nurse will say how you are getting on. If you are
having an operation your nurse will tell your family when it would be best to
ring to find out how you are.

Visiting times

Most wards have open visiting times, however, some hospitals will not allow
visits between 12.30 and 2pm when patients are eating lunch. It is always
best to check times with your particular ward. If normal visiting times are
difficult for your visitors, please speak to the nurse in charge who will arrange
alternative times.

Children under 12 years old may only visit you if the nurse in charge gives
permission and an adult should accompany them. The number of visitors
allowed to see you at any one time varies from ward to ward. If you have a
query about this, please ask one of the nursing staff. Seriously ill patients may
be visited at any time and sometimes we can arrange for close relatives and
friends to stay overnight. Please ask your nurse about this.

It is possible that you might be more susceptible to common infections after

your operation. You might want to ask anyone with a cough, cold, stomach
upset or any other possibly infectious condition to wait until they are feeling
better before visiting you. Your visitors may also have to wait for a short time
outside the ward if doctors are seeing patients.

Religious services at UCLH

Everyone is welcome to use the hospitals’ chapels for private prayer, and
services for patients of other faiths or denominations may be held there by
arrangement with the chaplains. UCLH has access to a team of chaplains
from different religious faiths who care for the spiritual needs of patients, their
friends and relatives.

The Chaplaincy department aims to provide a supportive and confidential

service offering religious and sacramental help, pastoral support, counselling
and advice. It can also offer a crisis service to help with patient problems.
Services are regularly held in each of the chapels and advertised within the
hospital.

Religious services on the wards…

The chaplains will be pleased to administer the sacraments on the wards or

pray with those unable to attend chapel services. If you would like to see a
chaplain during your stay in hospital, please ask the ward staff to contact the
appropriate chaplain for you. If you have come some distance to be a patient
at the hospital, and even if you do not consider yourself to be religious, a
chaplain will be happy to visit you at your request.

Your own clergy or ministers are always welcome visitors and, if you wish, the
chaplains will help you in contacting them.

Security

Patient, staff and visitor safety is of the utmost importance at UCLH.

CCTV

CCTV system is used throughout UCLH for the purposes of the prevention,
investigation and detection of crime, apprehension and prosecution of
offenders, patient, public and employee safety, and the monitoring of the
security of the site.

Security arrangements in the Obstetric Hospital

We are continuously reviewing safety procedures to make sure that the

Obstetric Hospital is as secure as possible. Close circuit television and a baby
tagging system is in operation in this hospital; ward staff will explain the
details and procedures to you and your visitors.

When you leave

Discharge plans

Your nurse will be responsible for writing your core discharge plan, which
deals with what happens when you leave hospital. Discuss the plan with your
nurse, raising any concerns that you have. Your nurse can arrange for other
members of the hospital team (such as the social worker or care manager) to
visit you on the ward and help you.

During your stay in hospital, you will be assessed by the ward team about any
continuing health or social needs you may have. You will not be discharged
until appropriate arrangements to meet these needs have been made.

You, and if you agree, your carer, will be involved and informed at all stages
of discharge planning.
All your discharge arrangements, such as names and telephone numbers of
the community services organised for you, will be written on the core
discharge plan.

If you are receiving community services on discharge, a copy of the core

discharge plan will be given to you to take home. This is to help you to contact
the named individuals on the plan if the arranged community services fail to
be provided.

Your GP will receive a copy of the core discharge plan and a letter explaining
your treatment in hospital.

Going home

Making plans to leave hospital should start before, or at the beginning of your
stay in hospital. This is to avoid making your stay in hospital any longer than
necessary and to make sure everything is in place for a comfortable discharge
home.

When making plans to leave hospital, consider the following:

• if you live alone, try to arrange for a relative or friend to check that your
home is ready for your return and to call you soon after you arrive
home
• ask your nurse for any medical certificates you need
• ask your nurse for any valuables you handed in for storage in the
hospital safe. Valuables are normally taken out of the safe during office
hours only
• will you need food supplies at home? You can ask for a hospital
volunteer to do some limited shopping for you on the day of your
discharge, but please make sure you have money to pay for the
shopping
• is your home suitable for your return, or will you require adaptation or
modification to your home to meet your changing needs?
• will you and/or your carer be able to manage when you return home?
• will you have housing problems on discharge?
• are you likely to be homeless on or soon after leaving hospital?
• will you require Social Services on discharge?
• do you need help with personal care?
• will you require home help to do your shopping, housework, meals or
laundry?
• will you require meals on wheels?

Need to register with a GP?

If you do not know where your local GP practice is, your local chemist will
have a list of the GPs near where you live. All you need to do is walk into the
GP practice and tell the receptionist that you want to register with a doctor. If
there are any free places in the practice, you will be given a form to fill in and
return.

If you already have an NHS card you can also hand it in to the receptionist for
the doctor to sign. Once the practice has all the details about you and you are
accepted, then you are registered.