Patient Buoy Phan uses the LIBBY App
Pictured: Patient Buoy Phan uses the LIBBY App
Media release 10 October 2018 | Hospital stays can have their challenges but thanks to the Libby app, boredom does not have to be one of them.
Counties Manukau Health has teamed up with Auckland City Libraries to provide Middlemore patients with access to more than 200,000 e books via the free app, Libby.
As part of a three-month trial, patients and whaanau at Middlemore’s National Burns Unit and the adult short stay ward who are greater Auckland residents and have a smart phone or device can now download the Libby App and escape into a vast range of e books and audiobooks. Hospital staff are available to help patients access this app.
In addition kobo readers (e-readers) are available and have been loaded up with titles for patients to enjoy.
The initiative started after former Middlemore patient, Mandy Mellor, shared her experiences of a long-term stay earlier this year.
“I was lucky because I came prepared with an MP3 player and crosswords, but I noticed there was a lack of stimulation for some patients who also weren’t getting a lot of visitors,’ Mandy says.
Mandy wrote a list of suggestions to hospital staff about ways to improve patient experience and among them was the provision of free reading material.
“So we got in touch with Auckland Libraries and can now offer the Libby app as another way to support patients during their stay in hospital,” says Jenny Parr, Chief Nurse and Director of Patient and Whaanau Experience.
“We recognise that being in hospital can be challenging for patients, and that is why we are delighted to be able to offer something to make their stay more pleasant.”
Catherine Leonard, Head of Content and access at Auckland Libraries says library staff are very excited to be involved in this trial.
“It has been a great collaboration so far to come up with a solution that will work and can be managed easily,” Ms Leonard says.
So far feedback about the initiative has been positive, with one Adult Short Stay patient saying the Libby App provided him with some interesting reading, and meant he felt much less lonely overnight than he was expecting to.
The trial will end in December this year, with hopes to implement it permanently across the whole hospital.