Affinity Healthcare – Sion House

Monday, 23 November 2009 10:58

Vistamatic secure vision panels play an integral part in the refurbishment of Sion House, an eating disorders inpatient unit in Lancashire.

Sion House in Preston is a newly refurbished, eight-bedded facility  operated by Affinity Healthcare, a leading  provider of specialist and complex mental health services to the NHS. Sion House is a satellite inpatient unit to the main Eating Disorders Service hub, based at Affinity’s Cheadle Royal Hospital, near Manchester Airport.

Under the clinical leadership of the highly experienced Cheadle Royal team, the Sion House facility enables patients with an eating disorder to be offered high quality treatment in a homely, therapeutic setting, closer to their home area. As part of a complete refurbishment of Sion House, Cheadle Royal Hospital recommended the use of Vistamatic secure vision panels on the rooms of higher risk patients and the clinical treatment room.

The installation of the panels has benefited the team who operate Sion House, in many ways.  Following admission to the unit and during the course of their stay, some patients need to be monitored at fifteen minute intervals, both day and night. This may be due to their compromised physical condition,   or the fact that some eating disorder patients have a compulsion to exercise in an effort to reduce their already low body weight, even further.

Vistmatic secure vision panels play an integral part in maintaining this high level of observation as they can be operated quickly and efficiently. Kris Riley, Eating Disorders Service Director and Risk Director   at Affinity Healthcare comments:

“We are delighted with Sion House and the service the team now provides to the local community. We believe the vision panels help the nurses remain vigilant in monitoring  patients without them having to disrupt people  unnecessarily. The discreet nature of the panels creates a calmer environment where regular monitoring can be carried out with ease.”

The secure vision panels also allow patients to relax privately in their own room with minimum disruption, which is an important aspect of their treatment and recovery. To enable patients to control their environment, the Vistamatic panels have been designed to feature an operating handle inside the room. To operate the panel from outside requires a key; this ensures that only staff members can open and close the panel from outside the room, further protecting patient privacy.

“Vistamatic’s secure vision panels assist observation, without affecting patient privacy or compromising their autonomy,” says Rachael Jackson, Sion House Manager.

A secure vision panel has also been installed within the clinical treatment room and this allows the clinical team to create a more private environment should a patient desire  it.

While staff at Sion House commented on how beneficial the panels were in patient treatment and observation, they could also see further uses for the panels within the house.  Some of these include way finding, enhanced privacy for staff meeting rooms and helping protect patient’s private information.  One of the staff commented:

“The lounge is sometimes used for patient consultation and installing panels on these doors would ready the environment for multiple uses and give the necessary privacy to these meetings.”