Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been leading on a new project called Homeward Bound, created to produce a short animated film to help inform patients about the risks of deconditioning in hospital and to provide practical advice to help patients leave hospital sooner.
In October last year, the hospital began working with a group of undergraduate students from the University for the Creative Arts, who were tasked with creating a number of short animations. They received input from staff, patients, carers, volunteers, governors and other community partners to help shape the content to make sure it would be useful and informative to patients. The films include information about planning for discharge from the hospital and facts about the risks of deconditioning – including research that has shown that for every 10 days an elderly patient spends in a hospital bed, their muscles can age by 10 years.
This collaborative project is being funded by a small grant from the Health Innovation Network and the team have now shortlisted four of the animations, which are being put to a vote. The winning animations will then be shown to patients, carers, relatives and staff at Kingston Hospital and will be used on the Trust’s website and social media channels.
A panel of judges, including hospital chairman Sian Bates and representations from the Health Innovation Network and Sky television, have already voted for which animation they think is the best. Now members of the public can view the four animations and vote for which one they think should be used to educate patients, relatives and carers about discharge.
The four shortlisted films can be watched and voted for online via the hospital’s social media accounts. Find us on Twitter @KingstonHospNHS or Facebook @KingstonHospitalNHSFT. Voting will be open until 3 June 2019 and the winners will be announced on 4 June 2019.
