News and Current Events:

Posted 23-1-07:

Citizen Advice Bureau (CAB) project at the RLH:

Opportunity to take part in a new research/project for students

CAB project at the Royal London Hospital (RLH) has been part of the RLH from 1999 until the present. This is a joint project between CAB East End London office and Barts and the London NHS Trust. It is based in the Social Workers Department, Outpatients, at the RLH.

This project employs a part-time advice CAB worker who provides an effective and professional general advice service, offering information, advice and practical support regarding Welfare Benefits, Housing, Tax Credits, Immigration, Debts and a range of other issues, e.g. in-patients at the RLH. The advice worker is Bengali speaking and is able to provide the service in English, Bengali and other languages. He visits patients on wards and discusses with them all those issues, helping them to fill the forms and has direct access to information and advice. Patients are referred to him by Social Workers and hospital staff.

At our joint review meetings with Social Workers and CAB colleagues, it has been identified that this project has a substantial physiological, as well as financial benefit for the patients. It reduces emotional stress related to financial issues for the patients and provides direct access to information and advice to those who are most vulnerable (older people, disabled, ethnic minorities etc) before they are discharged. It enables staff to discharge patients in more secure and safe environment.

We would like to invite students to undertake a project/ research related to finding out how this project relates to hospital discharge and whether it enables staff to provide smoother and quicker hospital discharge for the patients.

You will need to have some knowledge about statistical measurements, health statistics and interest in social care and hospital services. You will have support from Patient and Public Project Manager Slobodanka Rangelov at Barts and the London who would liaise with you on this project. This project will enable you to learn more about social and health relationship and sometimes very complicated circumstances that lead to the patients’ discharge.

If you would like to take part or if you need more information about this exciting project please contact:

Slobodanka (Boba) Rangelov, PPI Project Manager on
tel 020 7377 7000 ext 2590
email slobodanka.rangelov@bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk
Monday to Friday 8.30-4.30pm.

We need you as soon as possible!

All together Better Health Conference:

This was an international conference held in April 2006 with a strong focus on interprofessional working methods to promote better healthcare for all patients. We are delighted that one of our students was accepted to present a poster on IPE at the conference.

To see the poster produced by Emma Lightbody (of Emma's Blog), click here.