A Romanian delegation of health professionals jetted into the UK on 4 April, for a four-day visit, to find out more about how Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust puts patients at the heart of care.

The patient experience team at the Care Trust have been sharing good practice with their Romanian counterparts, made up of a director of nursing, two nurses and a consultant psychiatrist from Zalau Emergency District Hospital.

The visit follows a series of trips by the Trust’s Patient Experience Lead, Tracey Corner, who has flown over to Romania over a six-year period to share good practice in the UK to improve patient experience.  This includes changes to the complaints process, gathering patient and carer feedback and different ways of using the feedback to improve services.

Tracey Corner, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust’s Patient Experience Lead, said:  “I’m really excited to welcome the Romanian delegation. It’s a great opportunity for our Romanian colleagues and it really builds on the work that we did last year in Romania.  They have been able to see first-hand lots of different services and ways of working within the Care Trust, which they will hopefully take back and put into practice to enhance patient experience in Romania.”

During their four-day visit to the UK, the team had the opportunity to tour the Trust’s services, which included a visit to Waddiloves Health Centre, which provides a range of health support for adults with learning disabilities; Lynfield Mount and Airedale Centre for Mental Health, which offer hospital based mental health care for people that are too unwell to be treated at home and Moorlands View Hospital which provides support for men who require management under low security conditions.

Offering the Romanian delegation the opportunity to gain valuable insight into the award-winning services delivered by the Trust, the group also visited the state-of-the-art dementia assessment unit (DAU) at Lynfield Mount Hospital, which has won a national gold award for its work in this area. The 22 en-suite unit has been designed to provide a familiar and supportive environment for people with dementia. The facility has been given the highest accolade by the leading Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) at Stirling University, for its high-quality dementia friendly design that has been created with input from local carers, families and staff.`

The group also met with members of the Trust Board, including Nicola Lees, Chief Executive, Debra Gilderdale, Director of Operations and Nursing, Dr Andy McElligott, Medical Director and discovered from Fiona Cooke, Physical Health Lead for Inpatients how the Trust has been improving the physical health of people with serious mental health issues. This comes after studies have shown that patients with serious mental illness are at risk of dying prematurely in some cases, 25 years earlier than the general population.

Commenting during the visit, Ramona Marincas, Director of Nursing said: “We feel very lucky to be here.   We’ve gained a lot from the visit, as it’s a very different system to Romania, so it’s been good to learn from specialists in the UK and find out more about the great work that they do to enhance patient care. We’ve found the experience really positive and we will be able to take back the learnings to Romania to benefit patients under our care.”