Members of staff promoting the Silent Night Charter
World Sleep Day, created and hosted by World Sleep Society, marks a global call to action to promote sleep health. The theme of this year’s day is focussing on sleep being essential for health.
Just like eating and exercising, sleep is an important pillar of health which is fundamental to physical, mental, and social well-being.
One such way the Trust is helping promote better sleep for our patients is through the Silent Night Charter, which looks to help promote a calm and therapeutic environment during the nights on wards for patients and staff.
Introduced by the Trust's Patient Experience Team and supported by the Trust's Hospitals' Charity, we are asking everybody within our Hospitals to take part in helping provide a more comfortable space for rest.
In 2021, the National Inpatient Survey results for the Trust found that 40% of all inpatients had their sleep disturbed at night. The survey found that 42% of those surveyed listed noise generated by other patients was the main cause of disturbances, while a further 15% of patients were disturbed by noise from staff.
Maria Finch, Head of Patient Experience at the Trust, said: “Wards can be a noisy environment and patients can find themselves struggling to have a good night’s rest during their stay. Whilst you can’t expect wards to be completely silent, taking actions to reduce controllable noises by speaking quietly, dimming the lights, and encouraging the use of headphones at night after 10pm will help those sleep better during the night.”
Noise is one factor that could affect sleep. Other factors such as too much light coming into the bedroom, electronic devices and alcohol can affect quality sleep.
