“It matters to me that I have a way for my voice to be heard even when I find it difficult to communicate due to being unwell, tired, in pain or distressed.”
No patient visiting the Emergency Department is having a ‘good day’. We see people when they are at their lowest. We place them in an unfamiliar, bustling environment and we expect them to be able to advocate for themselves. For many people this is an impossible task. So how can we help ensure our patients voice is heard?
The Emergency Department at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, independent mental health advocacy organisation AdvoCard and people with lived experience of mental health issues, have been working in collaboration to improve the experience of ED patients and decrease their anxiety over an ED attendance. We have used data from AdvoCards ‘All & Equal’ project (http://www.advocard.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/AE-All-Equal-FINAL.pdf ) and from our subsequent collaborative work to look at how we can bring ‘What matters to you?’ in to our ED environment at a time when the combination of illness and anxiety may mean our patients struggle to articulate the answer.
Together we have worked to produce a wallet sized Emergency Card on which patients can record their emergency contacts/ advocates and their wishes and concerns under the headings ‘I want you to know that…’ and ‘It matters to me that….’. The cards were launched over summer 2019 and we have been delighted with the uptake. We hope the cards will decrease the anxiety felt by patients at the thought of attending the ED and promote better communication between our patients and all those involved in their care should they have to visit.
If you are interested in using the cards either personally or in your organisation please feel free to download this jpeg for printing. (See below for tips for printing.)
If you live in Edinburgh and have mental health issues or work in the mental health sector in Edinburgh and would like a copy or copies of the printed cards please contact Becky at AdvoCard - becky@advocard.org.uk or 0131 554 5307.
If you live in Edinburgh and have lived experience of mental health issues AdvoCard are keen to hear your views on the pandemic and lockdown.
What services do you need? What is working well? What could be better? Read more here:
http://www.advocard.org.uk/2020/05/what-do-you-need/ Questionnaire open until 2nd August.
Tips for printing the card
Put JPEGs (A4 size) into a single document
Make sure that your printers settings are set to:
- Landscape orientation
- Print on both sides
- Flip on short edge
There are three cards per page. You can use the outer edges of the boxes as a guide to cut around.