Why is it important?
- To take your mind off your health problems and concerns
- To enable you do something useful at times when nothing else is happening
- To relieve boredom
- To keep in contact with friends and family or you may choose to have a conversation with a hospital volunteer or someone from our pastoral and support service
- To help you to stay positive as this is likely to speed up recovery
- To enable you to interact with visitors by doing a joint activity
- To enable you to retain contact with the outside world and your community, for example by watching or listening to news
- To enable you to keep an eye on work or home so you don’t feel out of control or left out
- To enable you to do the same things as you do at home. This helps you to remain positive about getting back to normal and could include listening to or watching a favourite soap opera, responding to work emails, online banking, or remotely checking up on your pet
- To distract you during an unpleasant or worrying procedure, such as having blood taken. For certain people, distraction can decrease sensitivity to pain or discomfort.
Internet access via NHS Wi-Fi
All patients and visitors can access hospital Wi-Fi free of charge. Please select NHS Wi-Fi from your Wi-Fi settings menu then follow the instructions provided on screen.
Please note some functions are not accessible for bandwidth reasons including downloading large content (such as films) and accessing personal streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Disney Plus or Netflix.
NHS Wi-Fi should allow access many sites and apps including BBC iPlayer, More4, Sky Sports or BBC Sounds. If you wish to watch high-content streamed services such as music videos or feature films, we recommend that you download preferred content to your device before coming to hospital to avoid any access issues.
We recommend that you tune into Kingston Hospital radio whilst you are here. You can listen live at https://khradio.org.
If you experience problems with our NHS Wi Fi service, please contact Wi Fi Spark directly on 0344 848 9555 or email support@wifispark.com
Personal devices and security
You are welcome to bring your own device such as a radio, phone, or tablet for your personal use whilst at the hospital, but please note that this is at your own risk.
Staff can securely lock your valuables away for the whole period you are on a ward or whilst you are undergoing a procedure, but we do not provide a lockable cabinet at each bedside to enable you to securely store items when you are not using them.
If you choose not to bring in your own digital device, but you expect to be in the hospital overnight or a long period of time in a waiting area, why not bring along alternative forms of entertainment, such as books, magazines or puzzles.
Charging your phones and electronic devices
Portable JOOS BATTERY chargers are available from vending machines in the main ED (A & E) waiting room, Level 4 Main Outpatients or Ground Floor Maternity Building. For a small fee, you can borrow a small charger (compatible with most devices) to take with you around the hospital. These can be returned to any JOOS machine here or anywhere in the country or they can be purchased to take home and re-use.
If you bring your own charger with you to hospital, please ask staff where the most convenient place is to plug it in. We do not currently provide a plug point at every bedside.
Other forms of distraction and entertainment
At certain times of the week, specialist staff are available to entertain and distract children, and our activities coordinators will support elderly patients in our dementia wards.
In some of our day rooms (inpatient areas), patients have access to a shared TV and/or radio.
Volunteers are available at certain times of day to support inpatients and people waiting in the Emergency Department. Volunteers are happy to have a friendly conversation to make your stay here as pleasant as possible.
Pastoral & Spiritual Support Services
We offer a multi-cultural approach serving people of all faiths and life philosophies 24/7. We provide emotional support and help to all patients including those of a specific faith and people who have no particular faith but who would like a visit from an understanding person. To ask for a visit from a chaplaincy volunteer or a member of our team, call the hospital switchboard on 020 8546 7711 and ask for the Duty Chaplain or speak to one of the hospital staff.
We welcome your feedback about Patient Entertainment
We understand that having a means of distraction and entertainment whilst in hospital is important for patients. The Patient Experience team are leading the work to develop more entertainment and distraction facilities at Kingston Hospital.
If you have ideas about this, please contact us by emailing khft.patientexperienceandinvolvement@nhs.net or call us on 020 8934 3850.
Privacy
Please note that all patients and staff have a right to privacy, so you are not permitted to take photographs or video others whilst you are on hospital premises, even if people are in the background or facing away from you.