RLHIM – The Self-Care Space
The Self-Care Space is an exciting adjunct to our NHS clinical services helping with problems we see commonly such as chronic pain, tiredness, sleep problems, low and anxious mood, and menopausal symptoms.
We will be offering the chance to explore a number of therapies and activities, including
- Mindfulness
Guided exercise techniques such as
- Tai Chi
- Yoga
We run regular group workshops for patients to come together in a positive and supportive way to develop and share skills. We see this co-created approach as an essential part of living well with long term conditions.
Patient contact
Service management
Loretta Chinwokwu
Address
The Self Care Space
The Peter Fisher Centre
Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine
60 Great Ormond Street
London WC1N 3HR
Self-care is an essential part of any health system. People are encouraged to take control of their own health as much as they feel able to and given the tools and knowledge to do this. At the core of self-care is the development of more equal partnerships between health professionals and patients.
“Self-Care” covers a range of activities including health protection and maintenance, treatment of minor conditions and self-management of conditions. Research has shown that it can be a highly effective addition to medical treatment, particularly in the self-management of long-term conditions in clinical settings and self-help groups.
These activities are available to current or recently discharged (up to one year) Queen Square patients (from both the RLHIM and the National Hospital for Neurology).
Activities are run by experienced Volunteer therapists and facilitators. All volunteers have been through the UCLH Volunteer registration process, including interviews, DBS checks and induction.
Quality is assured by the Self-Space Steering Committee. Volunteers are selected based on their experience, competence, and good standing with an appropriate professional body. Each volunteer undertakes regular supervision by an RLHIM staff member.
The Self-Care Steering Committee is composed of three senior clinicians, two patient representatives, a Queen Square management representative, The Peter Fisher Centre coordinator, and the RLHIM Head of Research. The committee meets regularly to oversee the activities, decide upon new ones, review user feedback and evaluations to assure quality within the service.
A regular menu of current activities will be published on this page. All clinicians at RLHIM or the National Hospital for Neurology can recommend patients for Self-Care Services be emailing uclh.
There will be a limit to the number of people in each session, and you will be advised as to when you can start at time of booking. To ensure as many people as possible are able to take part we will advise how many sessions you may attend when you sign up, and the ground rules for each session.
Evaluation will be built into each service, such as satisfaction questionnaires, free text feedback, and validated PROMs (patient-reported outcome measures), and we would invite and encourage service users to take part in this vital aspect of the service. A report will be published for each activity in collaboration with our Research Department.