People living with diabetes have helped to transform an outdated space at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust into a bright and welcoming environment.
The hospital’s diabetes unit has been freshened up thanks to the installation of bright, colourful murals designed by local artist Natasha Clutterbuck, as well as small-scale watercolours which were created by the patients themselves.
The project came about when Dr Laura Rich, Diabetes and Endocrine Consultant and Young Adult Lead at the RUH contacted Diabetes UK for support with a review of the RUH’s services for young adults with diabetes.
Aled Newton, Together Type 1 Youth Coordinator for Southwest, and the DUK Health Systems Change Team worked with Laura and other teams at the RUH to focus on patient engagement and co-creation; to find out what mattered most to young people with lived experience, their families and carers, and the staff.
Young Leaders from Together T1 and young people who receive care at the RUH then took part in a series of workshops where they identified potential ways to improve the service, including monthly ‘check in’ texts, self-booking appointments, better transition information and peer support events.
However, one of the main areas young people wanted to see improved was the appearance of the department, with one young person even saying they felt the corridor leading to the patient waiting room looked like something out of ‘a horror movie’.
Following the service review, DUK provided the RUH team with a grant for £5,000 to start improvement works. Dr Rich wanted to ensure patients were involved in transforming the look of the department themselves, so contacted Art at the Heart, the RUH’s in-house art and design team, who invited artist Natasha to join the project.
Natasha, who has previously created a series of award-winning murals for the Dyson Cancer Centre, proposed murals with the theme of ‘Precious Pollinators and the Wild River making Its Way out to Sea.’
“I have loved creating the mural in the corridor and waiting room, whilst clinics have been in full flow. Hearing about peoples amazing connections with the mural theme and the natural environment has assured me what a positive impact this project has had making the experience of attending appointments and work in this building much more inviting and cared about.” Natasha Clutterbuck
In addition to her murals, Natasha also led a series of creative workshops for diabetes patients of all ages to produce their own small-scale watercolour designs. People living with diabetes were able to unleash their creativity and share their lived experiences, with their final pieces being displayed in frames hung amongst the murals in the corridor.
Dr Rich said: “This project has completely transformed our diabetes department for the people we care for and our staff too.
“It has been a truly collaborative experience – involving patients from start to finish, and with the fantastic support of Diabetes UK, which has helped make all this possible.
“This is about more than just buildings though, through this project we have also put in place several key service improvements for our young people based on their feedback.”