Outpatients undergoing intravenous therapy at St Mary’s Hospital, sometimes lasting up a number of hours, can now do so with significantly more comfort.
The Friends of St Mary’s Hospital have met a request from the Outpatients and Home Parenteral Infusion Therapy (OHPIT) department to purchase three tilting chairs costing £6,173.
Expressing gratitude for the grant, the department’s nurse specialist, Gary Whitwam, said:
“The new chairs are extremely valuable, providing poorly patients with the comfort and safety required during the initial procedure of inserting lines for venous access and the subsequent infusions, which in the case of antibiotics last an hour and those involving iron, magnesium etc up to six or eight hours.
“Previously our patients have had to use ‘sit-up’ style chairs, which are obviously less comfortable. The new tilting chairs have made a huge difference, and patients think they are fantastic.”
Gary said by treating patients in the clinic drastically cuts down, or removes altogether, the time spent occupying beds in a ward, which could be weeks.
Photographed: Gary Whitwam with Friends volunteer Margaret Bower
