News and Updates
News and Updates
January 2018 – New commercial partnership with Focus Games
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB) is thrilled to announce its new partnership with Focus Games, enabling ‘Show me where’ pain communication tools to be promoted not only in Wales, but throughout the UK and worldwide.
Focus Games are instrumental in changing the way health and well-being is taught by designing evidenced-based, innovative educational games for the healthcare sector, providing face-to-face learning.
We are very excited about working with their team of experts to introduce ‘Show me where’ to a wider audience - helping all non-verbal people communicate!
December 2017 - Barnardos, Disability and Parenting Services, Cardiff are now using SMW.
October 2017 – SMW is now available for those with communication difficulties in Belfast, Humberside, Derbyshire and Devon.
September 2017 – 'Pain Matters' pilot study by Aneurin Bevan UHB Learning Disability Team has shown SMW to be effective in locating patients' pain and demonstrates when they are pain free.
1000 lives - Strengthening the Commitment Conference, 21 and 22 November 2016
We attended and presented at the conference. We had an amazing response and met many dedicated people caring for those who have communication difficulties.
Cardiff University Medical School and Cardiff Metropolitan University used SMW in medical role play with 4th year Medical Students and Speech Therapy Students on 10 November. Interesting day watching the training of new doctors and speech therapists and how empathetic they were with non-verbal patients using the SMW fan tool. Irene and I also presented the Multi-lingual app at each session.
Clinical Innovation Partnership (CIIC), 3 November 2016
Presented SMW to the Clinical Innovation Partnership who would were impressed with SMW and have agreed to support and help us promote SMW with their business expertise.
All of the Special School in Swansea and Bridgend are now using SMW
These are:
- Ysgol PenyBryn School SA6 7PA
- Ysgol Crug Glass, School SA1 1QA
- Ysgol Hendrefelin SA10 7TY
- Maes-y-Coed Special school SA10 7TY
- Heronsbridge special school, Bridgend. CF31 3HT
South Manchester University Hospital is trialling the fan tools and Multi-lingual app in the Paediatric Day Unit.
Presented SMW to Medical Staff in the Children's Unit who have agreed to trial SMW targeting those patients with Autism in particular.
National Autism Society has endorsed SMW to parents, GP's and Clinical Staff
Heronsbridge Special School, Bridgend - 13 October 2016
Irene and Jan attended the Heronsbridge School Parents' Day and had a lot of interest from speech therapists, community group leaders and parents, who have children with verbal problems.
The school has placed an order for Fan Tools and magnetic Wall Charts, and has downloaded the free multi-lingual App, meaning that Show Me Where is now available in classrooms and the nursing station at Heronsbridge School, for pupils between the ages of 3-19 years of age.
Nursing and Midwifery Conference - 29 September 2016
We had a great response from staff attending the Nursing and Midwifery Conference on 29 September. We are now in talks with Aneurin Bevan UHB Learning Disabilities Directorate,
who are interested in the Show me where Fan tools and Apps for their Learning Disabilities Team and Speech and Language Therapy. We have allso had interest from Roisin O'Hare who provides health assessment for Asylum Seekers in Wales, and Dianne Powell from the Royal College of Nursing, Medical Education.
Special Schools Conference, Swansea –27 September
Following our attendance at the Special Schools Conference at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, we now have orders for Fan tools, and staff have downloaded the App in all 5 special schools in the Swansea area. The Welsh Ambulance Service (WAST) is trialling the Show me where App and Fan tool with all of their First Responders and Paramedics in the Swansea area, thus providing continuity of care if pupils become ill and are attended by ambulance crews.
SMW Multi-lingual App wins IMI awards
The new 'Show me where' mobile App has won the Institute of Medical Illustrators - Silver Award and the Gabriel Donald Graphics Award for innovation and creativity. Thanks to everyone in the SMW Team for their hard work and to Health Technology Challenge Wales for providing our funding.
Multi-lingual mobile app
In January 2016 we received £12,000 funding from Health Technology Challenge Wales, enabling the team to develop the Show me where multi-lingual mobile app, to assist not only those with communication difficulties but also people who do not speak English.
The app includes audio in 6 languages: Welsh, Arabic, Polish, Somali, Urdu and Bengali.
The mobile app has additional new features which include a list of descriptive symptoms such as feeling dizzy, sick, faint etc, as well as the original images showing the site of pain.
Working in partnership with the Welsh Ambulance Service, the app will enable first responders and paramedics to trial both the fan tool and mobile app in the Swansea area for 6 months, with a formal assessment published in February 2017.
The new app will be available to buy from the Applestore and GooglePlay in September 2016 and will be available for both android and Apple devices.
Welsh Ambulance Service trials Show me where – February 2016
Great news - the SMW team has received funding from Health Technology Challenge Wales to provide SMW fan tools and develop the SMW mobile app for the Welsh Ambulance Service (WAST).
Health Technology Challenge Wales
Provides seedcorn funding for schemes which address unmet clinical need and provide new technology, which could help improve healthcare or bring benefits to patients.
WAST, through its Partners in Healthcare Team based in Swansea, is trialling the fan tool for paramedics across the AMBU Health Board area to assist when attending to the general public who are non-verbal due to disability or for non-English speaking patients and asylum seekers.
A Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust spokesperson Lois Hough said:
“Engagement with community groups across Wales, including Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups and asylum seeker forums, revealed that communication was a concern for people for whom English is not their first language. We believe being able to identify the communication needs of patients at the earliest opportunity and relay this information to other NHS services, such as the receiving hospital, will enhance the patient’s experience,”
Please contact us if you would like additional information or product discussion.
Welsh Ambulance Service (WAST) Helping those with verbal disability, Non-English speakers and Asylum seekers to communicate pain
Patients with Learning Difficulties - January 2016
Andy Jones, one of the Lead Nurses is working on a project in C&VUHB that will enable any patient with Learning difficulties to be highlighted on the clinical workstation. The aim is to alert/signpost staff of the need to use the Pain Toolkit for Patients with Communication Difficulties and the SMW fan tool for those patients with learning difficulties.
SMW available on Clinical areas in C&VUHB - September 2015
SMW Fan tool is now available with the Pain Toolkit for Patients with Communication Difficulties, in all clinical areas in the University Hospital of Wales (UHB and University Hospital Llandough (UHL). It has been used successfully for patients unable to speak to indicate site of pain, SMW helping people communicate.
'Show me where?' Presentation - September 2015
Irene and Jan presented Show me where to the UHB Board members at the Quality & Safety Improvement Faculty meeting on 10 September 2015, where it was well received, and seen as a "fantastic idea that will make a massive difference to so many patients" especially asylum seekers coming to Cardiff. They have also presented to the Clinical Standards and Innovation group who were interested in the fan tool for Adult Mental Health services and for the elderly in Care Homes.
Interest has been shown in testing the tool in a clinical setting, assessing it in a medical emergency senario with army medics, assessing it for Dementia patients using actors, and using it with medical students.
Irene and Jan have also been asked to make a short video for the Pain Community web site.
Award for Irene - October 2014
Show me where was designed by Irene Hammond, a school nurse from the Hollies Special School, Cardiff for children with autism and speech disabilities. Irene was named New Marketer of the Year at the glittering CANMOL awards ceremony at St David’s Hotel and Spa in October 2014 - read the news item here.