ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Glasgow hospital cleaners are being offered a valuable role that will enable them to communicate with vulnerable patients.

The cleaning staff are being trained in the use of body language, gestures, facial expressions, vocalisation and signing in a bid to communicate with patients who have difficulty speaking.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has become the first health board in Scotland to train hundreds of hospital cleaners - along with porters and receptionists - in Alternative and Augmentative Communication. The aim is to help those patients who struggle to communicate as a result of an issue such as a stroke, cerebral palsy or autism.

More than 600 members of staff at the trust have taken part in dedicated communication training awareness sessions that also include the use of alphabet and word boards, communications charts and books containing pictures, photographs and symbols.

According to project manager Jean Alexander: "Alternative and Augmentative Communication involves very simple things such as making eye contact and giving the other person enough time to make themselves understood. I am immensely proud that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has become the first health board to invest so heavily in this training for frontline staff."