Getting a good night’s sleep is important for patient recovery, we must keep noise levels as low as possible on wards overnight.
The Northern Care Alliance has today (25 November 2024) launched its new HUSH (Help us support healing) campaign to advise staff and patients how to reduce noise and promote sleeping well between 11pm and 6am.
The reducing noise at night campaign has been introduced following patient feedback from Observe, Listen and Act reviews, local (Friends and Family Test) and national survey feedback, which showed that patients often found it difficult falling asleep and staying asleep due to noisy and bright environments.
We know that being in hospital can be an anxious time for service users and we know getting a good night’s sleep is important for recovery. The campaign aims to encourage staff and patients to be mindful of noise levels and outlines the simple steps staff will ask patients to do and what actions staff will take themselves.
Staff will keep noise to a minimum, dim lights, speak quietly when talking to patients and colleagues and only carry out observations, such as blood pressure checks, if necessary. They will also close bins / cupboards slowly and softly and answer telephones / alarms as quickly as possible.
Patients will also be asked to keep noise to a minimum, turn off mobile phones and other devices such as tablets, keep bedside lamps turned off and to use ear plugs or eye masks (which will be provided on request) if that will assist them to sleep.
Julie Cheney, assistant director of service user experience, said: “We know that staying overnight in hospital can mean having disturbed sleep from noisy distractions, so in an effort to ensure noise levels are as low as possible to help patients rest and recover in our care, we have introduced our new HUSH campaign to reduce noise at night.”
Heather Caudle, chief nurse, said: “The introduction of this new HUSH campaign will help support both our staff and patients reduce noise at night. Getting a good night’s sleep is important for healing and by introducing this, we are making every effort to ensure people can maintain their usual sleep pattern."