Carers information

During this COVID-19 pandemic there may have to be changes in the way some of our services work. Rampton Hospital is following Public Health England (PHE) guidance to manage inpatient areas during the current COVID-19 outbreak. The hospital is monitoring and implementing advice from Public Health England on a daily basis. Please consult PHE resources, as these are updated nationally when practices/advice changes - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england. For additional information you may wish to NHS patient information - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Update 14 January 2022

Social visits

Sadly, high numbers of Covid positive patients and staff continue across the Hospital, with several wards currently in isolation. 

Therefore, to reduce transmission and to keep patients, visitors, and staff as safe as we can, Onsite visiting at the hospital is continued to be on-hold. This will be reviewed again on the 20 January and will be reviewed regularly thereafter. We will update you after each review.

If the ward that the patient you care for resides on goes into isolation, Social Care will be in contact with key family members / friends to inform them.

Virtual Visits are still taking place but will be up to the discretion of each ward.  Due to the current staffing pressures, we are only able to facilitate 1 timeslot on an evening, this will be reviewed on the 20 January also.  Therefore the 5 bookable timeslots are:-

• 10:30-11:00am
• 11:30-12noon
• 2:30 – 3pm
• 3:30-4pm
• 6:30-7pm

You can book these via the purple visit app itself.

If you require information about Virtual visits via the Purple Visit app, please  contact the Social Care Service, telephone 01777 247 534.

Update 13 October 2020

Social visits paused

As from Wednesday 14 October 2020, Nottinghamshire (where Rampton Hospital located) is under ‘High Alert’ (Tier 2) status as directed by the government. This means that no households can mix indoors. Therefore, all social visits to the hospital have been stopped until further notice. Read more information on this VV update 13th Oct 2020.pdf [pdf] 86KB

Update 18 June 2020

Reintroduction of social visits
In line with NHS guidelines, we are reintroducing patient visits at the Hospital. See our latest update on this - Reintroduction of social visits 180620.pdf [pdf] 212KB. We also wish to remind you if you use public transport and are planning a visit that you check with your rail/bus provider. Due to government guidelines on social distancing, train & bus seat allocations have been limited and operators may be operating on differing timetables to normal at this time.

Update 20 May 2020

Site update - Patients continue to be cared for on their individual wards as a ‘household’ in line with Government guidelines. However, local Day care areas have opened up with patients going to these areas as a ward. Grounds access, for those patients who have been approved, has been reinstated, in line with the Government guidance, to increase opportunities to exercise. Planning is underway as to how to return the Hospital to ‘business as usual’ for staff and patients for activities such as shopping and hairdressing. We will keep you updated on these developments as they are implemented.  

Social Visitors - Social Visits to the Hospital remain suspended until further notice. Whilst the Social Visitors event planned for 13 June,2020 is cancelled on site, we are hoping to provide a Virtual event on this date. We are considering ways to engage with Social Visitors, and there is a Social Visitors Planning Meeting on Thurs 21 May on Microsoft Teams to consider how to offer support to Social Visitors.

Virtual Visits update - The Trust’s Health Informatics Service are currently working on the Trust Network in order that a number of Tablet Devices can securely connect to the Patient Network (named Journey). The Trust Health Informatics Service do not want the Social Video Conferencing applications for wards running across the Trust Network and the Journey Network offers the better internet connectivity as we move forward. At the moment we do not have a time for completion available from our colleagues in the Health Informatics Service but are hopeful that we should have a working video conferencing solution for patients in the near future.

Nightingale Ward - Further to the info added to this site, Please see below a short film about Nightingale Ward – https://vimeo.com/416690687/b4dfb4bbe1

Update, 29 April 2020

The Hospital are continuing to manage patients who display symptoms and may test positive for Covid-19, as per Government guidelines as detailed above. Some patients and staff have recovered from COVID-19-like symptoms, and a number of wards that had been isolated no longer require this. The Social Care Team will keep patients identified carers/families aware of any individual or ward changes as they happen, where they have the patients consent to do this. While patient movement around the Hospital site remains restricted, Therapy and Education staff are working on wards to maintain levels of activity for our patients, including regular access to fresh air. Social Visits remain suspended until further notice, however work is ongoing to enable a video link to improve contact for patients and their family. We will inform patients and their families when this is ready to use. Also, the Hospital has developed a Pen Pal Scheme for patients to write to, and receive letters from, our pool of trained Volunteer Befrienders as a supportive measure. A Nightingale Ward has been developed at Rampton Hospital, see the briefing document below from Louise Bussell. Social Visitor Information: Nightingale Ward at Rampton Hospital.pdf[pdf] 92KB. Across the Hospital a number of ‘social distancing measures’ have been implemented. Such as, on wards spacing chairs in dayrooms and introducing staggered / multiple mealtimes (to ensure that patients have space to eat without being too close to another person). More handwashing is being encouraged by staff and hand sanitiser stations have been located around the hospital including patient areas. The guidance for our patients is the same as for the general public. The PHE guidance states that if there are any suspected or confirmed cases then where a person is “symptomatic” we ask them to self-isolate 7 days (For our patients that will be in their rooms). The whole household (or for us at Rampton – the whole ward) also need to isolate for 14 days. In an inpatient setting we may, on the advice of PHE, be able to swab a patient who is describing COVID-19 like symptoms for testing. If a patient is suspected of having COVID-19, they will be isolated from other patients as a precaution but still receiving nursing care, although the whole ward will be isolated. If a patient has confirmed test for COVID-19, the Hospital will contact the emergency contact of a patient but only with the patient’s consent. If a patient has confirmed or suspected COVID-19 then the whole ward they reside in will also have isolation measures put in place, the emergency contacts for all the patients on the isolated ward will also be informed. If you are a carer / family member of a patient resident at the hospital and you have specific concerns - please contact your named Social Worker at the hospital. Tel: 01777 247534 or Email:  RamptonSocialCare@nottshc.nhs.uk.

Here you can read the latest inforamation about how we are supporting Carers during the Coronavirus pandemic [pdf] 2MB

Rampton Carers Information Pack 2018.pdf[pdf] 3MB

This pack has been designed by carers and staff who have experience of Rampton Hospital in order to help you access the information you need at the right time for you. For a printed version of the pack, contact the Family and Volunteer Support Service.

Regular carers events and information sharing meetings take place throughout the year at Rampton Hospital.  

These events are designed to give you information about the Hospital, such as general treatments and therapies that patients can access. They give you the opportunity to have your say. Most importantly they also provide the opportunity to meet Hospital staff and other carers.

Bringing in Cards, Letters, Photographs or any written documanet for a patient. 

Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Strategy 2019-21 [pdf] 153KB

This information booklet has been put together by researchers and clinicians at the Institute of Mental Health and carers with experience in secure care. It is also known as a Carers Toolkit.

• Secure Hospital Care - Information for carers.pdf [pdf] 1MB

Bringing in food

Food and drink cannot be brought into the hospital or for a patient.  Unless applied through the food application process and agreed by the patient's multi-disciplinary team.

Items that will be considered on a food application are:

• Shop bought and factory sealed.
• Non-refrigerated.
• Within its sell by date.
• Items that are not available through the patient shop or on the hospital menu.

Food not allowed includes:

• Food that requires re-heating.
• Meat and fish products.
• Food from takeaways.
• Home prepared food.
• Food in unsealed packages.

Please contact the Family and Volunteer Support Service for further information on 01777 247571.

Food application form

Carers can order food for patients from the hospital shop via the following ordering process. 

"My wife and I are carers for our son who is currently staying at Rampton Hospital. Prior to this, our son had been in and out of prison on numerous occasions before he was diagnosed with a mental health problem. I will never forget the letter our son wrote to us during his last stay in prison, saying that he would be moving to Rampton Hospital. Our first feelings were of panic that our son was going to Rampton Hospital. After that initial shock we decided that wherever our son was we would support him fully.

"My wife has a disability which means she requires wheelchair assistance and I have recently undergone extensive surgery for cancer. We have nothing but praise for all the staff we have met at Rampton Hospital, they have been so understanding.

"We were able to visit our son within the first month of his admission. We were given the opportunity to stay overnight at the Visitors Centre before seeing our son. The staff there were extremely welcoming, putting us at ease instantly. The staff had even gone to the trouble of showing our son photographs and a video of where we would be staying during our visit, giving him some reassurance that his parents were being looked after.

"The ward staff are amazing, they keep us well informed of our son's progress. Through the support of the staff involved in our son's care I believe that my family has grown closer together as a result."