The Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust recently purchased 13 iPads so that patients on the Covid wards in Noble’s Hospital could have some face-to-face communication with families unable to visit them.

Paaie Mellows, a nurse on Wards 11 and 12 where the less severe Covid cases were being treated, said: ’The iPads have been truly wonderful and we are all very grateful for the Henry Bloom Noble Trust for their kind donations.’

Paaie, 27, had been taking her own iPad into the wards for patients to use, writes Julie Blackburn.

She says: ’When we first moved to wards 11/12 and the rules changed on the visiting of patients to originally no visitors no matter what the circumstances, it very soon became apparent that there was a huge area of our patients’ inpatient experience missing - their communication with their loved ones.

’We began to notice that patients were more withdrawn than usual, or that they too expressed how sad they were that they were not able to have visitors or even hear a familiar voice.

’We are lucky enough on the ward to be able to use the "mobile" landline telephone and we overcame the infection control issues by placing it within a sealed plastic specimen bag, but being on the second floor of the hospital we weren’t even able to use the novelty of a window visit for relatives as we had done previously when on AMU/Ward 6.

’Often patients have mentioned that due to our PPE, wearing masks and visors, and the fact they cannot see their relatives, they are essentially spending days without seeing a single smile, which was quite heart-wrenching, yet true when you think about it.

’With all this said, I thought about how we could find a solution to overcome these issues and bridge this gap, and decided to bring in my own iPad (reset to factory settings) to use in the interim until I could acquire enough iPads so that each ward’s allocation of patients could also benefit.’

As Paaie points out, she is of the generation that ’has our mobiles attached to our hands at any given moment’, but many of her patients are elderly and may be unfamiliar with the use of smartphones and tablets or don’t possess their own.

Paaie set about initiating a project she called ’Together Apart’ to obtain more iPads as quickly as possible.

She says: ’Having shared my experience of using the iPad with our patients and the amazing outcomes it had, and with the help of the enthusiastic and passionate Marc Jubb, business manager - unscheduled care’, we were able to obtain 13 brand new iPads from the amazingly generous and helpful charity, the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust.’

With a combination of Marc’s assistance and what Paaie describes as her ’pestering’ they had the new iPads up and running on the wards in just two and half weeks.

Marc kindly assembled them and we headed out and delivered them to each ward within Noble’s and these were very gratefully received by our wonderful colleagues who were also keen to put them to use as soon as possible, to connect our patients to their loved ones.’

She goes on: ’From the beginning I had called the project, "Together Apart", which I know is self-explanatory as literally our patients are apart and we are bringing them together, but together for me meant something more than the literal.

’It meant the closeness, the companionship and the love that being "together" brings.

’Something so beyond important, not only during times of illness or in the worst case scenarios where there have been final goodbyes, but also during the unprecedented times that the corona virus has brought onto our lovely little island.

’We have used these iPads to not only connect countless patients to their loved ones, we have reached relatives as far as Canada and New Zealand; we have brought friends together after years apart, and we have even had a Skype call with seven participants with a 98-year-old patient!

’We have seen many happy tears, not only from patients, but from staff too -and me! - and the additional communication tool and the possibilities/opportunities the Henry Bloom Noble Trust has given us all through the donation of iPads is something I cannot thank them enough for, and know that all who have come into contact with them feel this too.’

Terry Groves, chairman of the Henry Bloom Noble Health Care Trust, said: ’We were very pleased to be able to fill an urgent need in such a short space of time and it is heartening to hear how much comfort the iPads have brought to both patients and their families.

’When the outbreak has passed the iPads will remain in use and continue to help elderly and frail relatives keep in touch with their loved ones when in hospital or be used by children for entertainment on the paediatric ward.’