Mount Gould patients experience the ocean through virtual reality
At the beginning of September, the Ocean Conservation Trust visited Skylark ward at Mount Gould hospital with their virtual reality headsets, which let patients experience the ocean from the comfort of their beds.
The headsets, which allow users to visually submerge into a fully immersive 360-degree environment, played footage from Plymouth’s National Marine Aquarium and the ocean, which included close ups of various sea life, and divers swimming.
Speaking on why this experience was important for the patients at Mount Gould, Elaine Nicholl, community hospital support manager, said: “We get a lot of elderly patients here, some of whom don’t get visitors, or don’t have a lot of family. Being in the hospital can be a very lonely place, and it can also be quite stressful and anxious for them.
We’re hoping that these visits will provide them with some additional activities to do and provide them with a little bit of relaxation.”
Elaine is hoping that this will be a recurring visit, with the Ocean Conservation Trust visiting patients on the ward every six weeks.
For some patients on end-of-life care at the hospital, this experience was particularly special for both them and their families. The daughter of one patient on palliative care said: “Thank you so much for making this amazing experience accessible to my mum. She was in awe watching the beautiful fish and mammals in the ocean. Her wonderment and pleasure were clear for all to see. What a privilege to witness such joy in such dire times.”
Other patients, who have been in Mount Gould for an extended period of time, were able to leave their rooms and partake in the experience in a more social environment in the hospitals lunchroom.
Faye Peters, a patient who has been on Skylark ward for five weeks, said: “It’s just incredible, and for people our age, we don’t get to go scuba diving, so this is the next best thing. I hope more people give this a go, I think they’d get a lot out of it because fish help you relax.”
Freya, the ocean engagement manager for the Ocean Conservation Trust, said: “We understand there are a lot of barriers for people getting to the sea, whether it’s physical restrictions or illness, or something else, the work we do means that we get to bring the ocean into those communities.
It’s been an honour to be here in Mount Gould today and to see all the patients smiling and talking to each other and sharing their own stories about their memories and experiences of the sea.”
This experience was a team effort, put together by Elaine, Emma Rogers, and Teresa Beer to help improve the patient experience at Mount Gould, and continue to strive towards best practice at UHP.
