Creating a sense of community at Rampton Hospital
Staff and patients at Rampton Hospital are working hard on communal projects, to see if they can improve their sense of community.
A sense of community is described as ‘a sense of belonging, that individual members matter to a community and to each other, and that individual needs can be met through a shared community commitment’ (McMillan and Chavis, 1986).
This scheme encourages patients on each ward to work together on a project of their choice. The goal is to boost staff and patient wellbeing by improving the sense of community on selected wards. The wards have had focus groups to plan what they will work on, and the project work began in May 2017.
Projects include redesigning gardens, refurbishing communal areas and improving access to activity areas on the wards. The wards have chosen a theme and have given their projects a name. Visitors are also welcome to share their ideas to support the projects over the next few months.
Staff and patients are being asked to complete questionnaires before, during and after completing their projects, to measure the impact of taking part and provide feedback on their experiences.
We hope that the projects will allow people to show their creativity, giving them the chance to learn new skills by working together and sharing ideas with each other.
There will be a showcase event in October to celebrate all the hard work and success of the finished projects.
The project report aims to see if it would be possible to continue this in the future across Rampton Hospital.
'Before' photos
These photos show some of the areas which will be worked on as part of the project.
