University Hospitals Plymouth supports the accessibility of its locations by publishing new Detailed Access Guides
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has worked with AccessAble to create Detailed Access Guides of all its locations. These guides share valuable information for our disabled community, who can now see online all details about the building they’ll visit for their healthcare appointment.
The guides will allow patients to see the physical environment of their appointment and open up conversations with the Trust around any reasonable adjustments for their personal disability and needs.
Thanks to the donation by the local charity League of Friends, UHP is making its buildings less daunting to navigate for our patients. People can see in advanced the facilities available to them; where the toilets are, what they look like, where the entrance to the building is and much more. We hope this will help our patients and visitors plan their visit better and reduce anxiety.
John Stephens, Director of Estates and Facilities said, “At UHP we are committed to enhancing accessibility as part of our site development strategy and improvement planning for the future. We understand just how stressful visiting a large hospital can be, and I’m delighted to have collaborated with AccessAble to provide Detailed Access Guides to help build confidence for patients to plan a visit here. This work has also helped us to identify areas that require improvement, thereby ensuring we are able to plan our future developments more effectively.
I am very grateful to the Trust's Patient Environment Team, led by Matt Birchall, and to AccessAble, for the extensive work undertaken to makes these guides a reality for our patients”.
Professor James S Griffiths, Committee Member League of Friends of Derriford Hospital and Chair of the Patient Council added; “Patients, carers or visitors will always be apprehensive about going to hospital whether it is for a consultation, treatment or seeing someone they know in a hospital ward. A large hospital complex like the main site of University Hospitals Plymouth at Derriford is a daunting place to visit even if you are fit and mobile. However, for those with mobility difficulties, visual or aural impairment or mental health problems, a visit can appear overwhelming. Therefore, we have a duty to develop user-friendly guides that can help relieve anxiety ahead of a visit for all people using the Trust facilities. Hence the League of Friends of Derriford Hospital were delighted to support the purchase of AccessAble to provide an easily utilised digital system that identifies parking, public transport stops, accessible routes into buildings and the location of other facilities such as restaurants and toilets. Use of AccessAble will improve the visit experience for all our patients and those supporting them.”
