New bleeper at King's Mill Hospital will let parents know when their child is out of theatre

The bleep system will ensure that parents get a pager, which will bleep immediately once their child is out of theatre and is ready for them to greet them.

Deputy sister on the children’s ward, Carol Hind, who has been involved in the project, said: “In the past parents may have missed a call from the ward when their child is ready or the ward has not been able to contact them, which can be distressing for both the parents and the patient. The new system will ensure that parents will be bleeped as soon as their child comes out of theatres, so they will be able to be reunited as soon as possible.

“We know that having an operation at a young age can be quite a scary experience and so we wanted to look in to how we could improve the process and make things better for our patients and their families.”

The project has involved teams from the ward and theatres collaborating across both specialties to improve the pathway, with the hope that this will be a big improvement and take some of the stress out of the situation for everyone involved.

Andrew and Sarah Longmead were the first family to try the new bleep system.

They said: “It was good for us because we were able to go and get a cup of tea and take a short walk around the hospital, safe in the knowledge that we would hear the bleep go off. It’s a really stressful time for the whole family, so little things like this can really make a difference.”