£12.6m Maidstone mental health ward hoped to improve staff retention

KentOnline / KMTV

The new Ruby Ward is hoped to overhaul Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership care. This report comes from the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Transcript

00:00 A new facility for older women with complex needs that can't be met in the community.

00:06 The Ruby Ward in Maidstone has 16 beds and boasts plenty of impressive new features.

00:12 But a trust behind this building has been pulled up multiple times for its care.

00:17 And Bedway Council's October scrutiny committee issues including waiting times, worker dissatisfaction

00:24 and staff retention were all pulled up.

00:27 "There's set guidance on how many members of staff you need, so that's adhered to and

00:32 also the senior staff are constantly monitoring, have we got enough staff on the ground.

00:36 So the matrons, the ward managers constantly communicating and seeing if we've got the

00:41 right number of staff on any particular shift and overall as an organisation as well our

00:46 recruitment is increasing, our medical recruitment is in a fantastic place and recruitment for

00:51 other roles is also improving."

00:53 But trusts have three locations across Kent.

00:56 The Ruby Ward was originally in Medway but the patients were put into dormitories.

01:02 Now they'll have individual rooms with en-suites.

01:05 Tina has been working with older adults for 30 years.

01:09 She says this will do a lot for the mental health of patients and to speed up their recovery

01:14 time.

01:15 "Because they'll be able to move around, they won't be isolated, they'll have more access

01:18 to open spaces where they didn't have that before and everybody knows going out in sunshine

01:23 where there is air and colour, you can go out into that and enjoy that so that's hopefully,

01:29 so if we get patients that have got depression that will lift up their depression, it is

01:34 so much more user friendly."

01:36 The Amatrust says the new ward boasts state of the art equipment like this assisted bath

01:41 and it even has bubbles.

01:47 There are also cooking facilities with the aim of getting patients to gain life skills

01:52 to get them back into the community.

01:54 "It's relaxing, it's good for the nurses, the staff, everything and like they say, if

02:02 you've got a happy nurse you're going to have a happy patient and with all the facilities

02:10 that are here, they're not here on a long term basis, come in, get the work done and

02:19 try to get them back into their own homes as soon as possible."

02:22 Mental health units have seen unprecedented demand in recent years and have equally come

02:27 under increased scrutiny.

02:29 The promise for this new multi-million pound facility will go a long way to improving treatment.

02:35 Gabriel Morris in Maidstone.

02:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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