Patients can help each other in so many ways

Thanks to Susan, a regular contributor to the Kissing it Better, for demonstrating how, as a patient, she was able to make a huge difference to someone else's care.

She writes....

'Even as a patient I have often found it possible to be of help to an elderly patient in an adjoining bed.

'Whilst in hospital for five weeks, I took up conversation with the very elderly, partially deaf lady with a broken hip, in the bed next to mine. She received no visitors during her long stay. I quickly found that I could offer her some company, and make sure that her needs were met, whether it be pressing my buzzer for her, sharing my newspapers and magazines, or ordering her sweets from the trolley etc. I became her spokesperson, making sure that she was comfortable and her needs were met.

My husband brought her in yoghurt, her favourite biscuits, and fruit from home. She was such a wonderful character. When I left the ward she cried, such was the bond we had built up. We exchanged letters after she eventually returned home.'