Karen chaired a productive meeting between residents of the John Munroe hospital and senior management team, kick-starting an era of increased communication at the hospital. The meeting gave everyone the opportunity to air their views and to discuss concerns openly and, following its success, it was agreed that Karen will chair a ‘John Munroe Liaison Group’ meeting three times a year.
These meetings will enable residents to raise concerns about issues within the hospital, and will give the staff an opportunity to work on opening up better channels of communication with the local community. Karen said “It’s quite clear from this first meeting that the more communication at John Munroe the better, so I will continue to make sure this is happening. I think that the John Munroe liaison group is a great step forward which will really help to strengthen relationships at the hospital”
Following some concerns from local residents regarding a patient who absconded from the hospital, this meeting involved a good discussion around how best to deal with difficulties of this kind in the future. It was decided that in the event of another patient leaving John Munroe without permission, the heads and deputy heads of the schools in the surrounding area would receive a call alerting them to the situation to ensure that pupils are kept safe.
Karen added, “It’s great to see that the hospital are trying innovative ways to work with the local community. For example, the team are currently exploring the possibility of devising an app which would keep local residents informed of those issues at the hospital which may affect those in the surrounding area. I look forward to discussing this in more detail at The Liaison Group’s next meeting, along with many other exciting new ideas to improve communication between residents, staff and the local community”.