Ensuring that the patient’s voice is heard, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital now has a patient advocate manager.Toni Bridgewater started the new post in September and said her role is to address patient and family queries on the hospital and its services. As such she may deal with complaints but also receives compliments and suggestions to increase patient satisfaction.The role differs from that of the hospital ombudsman which existed a few years ago, in that Ms Bridgewater’s role is to address concerns immediately while the ombudsman dealt with complaints that were typically received long after the problem occurred. Ms Bridgewater aims to resolve matters while the patient is still in the hospital rather than investigate what happened, once they have left.Despite this aim, she admitted that to date most of the complaints she has received have been from patients who have been released from hospital.“For some reason they feel more comfortable, they are not unwell anymore, they have their faculties, and they are able to recount better,” said Ms Bridgewater. “They’ve tended to call when they get home. I need them to give the feedback when they are in hospital so that it can be dealt with immediately.“The one in-house complaint that she’s had was about having to wait a long time in the emergency department. While it’s not an issue she had the power to change, she said just listening is valuable. “I can hear the concern. I can investigate it and I can say we’re so sorry for the delay,” she said.“I think apologising goes a long way. I’m finding that people just want to be heard and they want to be heard in a non-judgmental, non-accusatory way. They just want to get it off their chest to someone who will go ahead and resolve this matter for them,“ she added.Tasked with dealing with patient satisfaction, Ms Bridgewater examines patient satisfaction surveys to see where improvements may be possible.“We look at that data very seriously with a view to trying to enhance those programmes that are working well,” she said. “Just because they are working well doesn’t mean that we stop. We continually try to upgrade and fix things so that patients have a better experience every day,” she said.The most effective way of achieving this according to Ms Bridgewater is to have patients express their concerns when they arise and now wait.“What is hoped is that the patient feels confident enough to speak to the nurse and/or physician on the ward,” she said. And she gave the example of a patient who may have a broken arm. She said that a patient should not hesitate to tell the nurse that their arm is broken and request that their tray is brought over for them.“In this way their concern can be resolved immediately,” she said.But she noted that there is a tendency in Bermuda for people not to speak up.“I don’t know if this is a cultural thing because people are quick to call a talk show instead of speaking to the person directly,” she said. “But we are trying to educate people on speaking to those on the ward so that it can be dealt with immediately. That way we can get names, we can get everything that we need so that we can make sure the process works properly the next time,” she added.She noted that investigating complaints weeks after they have occurred is not only more difficult, having to determine who was on duty etc. but also the matter does not get resolved in a way that directly benefits the patient.“We can resolve it, but not on the spot where they can see and experience it and that is so important to us,” she said.To this end, the Speak Up campaign in the hospital is still underway encouraging patients to speak to hospitalists on any concerns with their care.When matters are not resolved by the medical team on the ward, Ms Bridgewater is called in to help.In order to help patients and their families better understand their rights and learn their responsibilities, Ms Bridgewater will give a talk every Wednesday in the family lounge. She said the 30-minute presentation identify the key people in the hospital patients should be aware of to have their concerns addressed.