Autumn In-Brief 2018 V10 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 2
Continued from previous page.
Let’s look at the core function of the PALS service which was originally described in 2002; we provide some
analysis from the ‘voice’ of PALS as to the current status of the service:
The core function of PALS (2002)
PALS in 2018…
To be identifiable and accessible to
patients, their carers, friends and
families.
The PALS service? Yes, we used to have an office next to reception
but got ‘re-shuffled’ as the car-parking office needed it more - as
‘management’ figured they had more enquiries and complaints. PALS
is now down the corridor, turn left, turn right, right again, proceed for
around half a mile, go completely out of the hospital rear-entrance to
the Portakabin on the car-park, you might catch us but we usually leave
at 3pm because we only have one part-time member of staff.
Provision of on-the-spot help with
the power to negotiate immediate
solutions or the speedy resolution
of problems.
If you can locate the PALS service we can refer you seamlessly to
appointments, car-parking, complaints or the League of Friends teashop. However, it will be next Friday when we get to the answering
machine to retrieve your message because we are short-staffed;
hopefully by then you will be sorted.
A gateway to appropriate
independent advice and support
from local and national sources.
Also called ‘signposting’. Which would have worked well had most of
the advice and support agencies not been culled in the great quango
massacre of 2010 or lost otherwise to the ether. Most signposting is
directed to the car-parking service, who, incidentally, have a much
nicer office than us, they even have a PAT-tested kettle.
PALS will provide accurate
information to patients carers and
families about the trust’s services
and other health related issues
using accredited, reliable sources.
Every time we print a new set of leaflets the Trust changes its name,
reconfigures its services or covertly TUPEs its staff in that ‘not-really-atransaction’ sort of way. Last weeks angiogram department is this
weeks mortuary; we’ve made some terrible gaffs. Still, the car-parking
office is always a reliable source of information and we now receive
regular sitreps from them.
PALS will act as a catalyst for
change and improvement (and
PALS will enjoy direct access to the
Chief Executive).
I met the Chief Executive around eight years ago, since then there
have been five new post-holders. The latest one has bolted his door
and only communicates to his subjects via twitter and fax (the
information governance risks are just too great to use email).
PALS will operate within a local
network of other PALS (and will be
seamless across health and social
care).
When health tries to telephone social care, there seems to be no one
answering?... hello?
PALS will support staff to develop a Responsive culture means “refer immediately to PALS if any patient
responsive culture… PALS must be exhibits the slightest inclination to politely enquire about your handseen as a ‘culture’ rather than a job. hygiene, their five day wait on the trauma list or the fact that the
hospital has just removed their left leg when it should have been the
right”. Also known as a ‘communications repository’ (aka bin), but you
can call it a ‘responsive culture’ if you like.
Understanding the benefit of a good PALS service
Organisations who have tried to ‘modernise’ and disband (integrate) PALS services have often back-pedalled after
a couple of years. You see, there is often a vast underestimation of how important a PALS service is and how
unique it is in its placement and its function to smooth the path as the conduit between services and patients. The
problem is, that it is hard to quantify the direct translational value of a PALS service; the value is simply hard to
measure. You can account for contacts and varieties of enquiries but it is difficult to measure the opportunity cost of
not having that service and that is exactly the problem; when it comes to decisions about valuable resources – the
money will often chase the measurable outcome.
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