Get well soon

Older people in hospital: Keep up your strength

Woman 1: I didn’t think you needed to eat and drink much in hospital, because you’re not doing a lot.

Man 1: But I found out it’s even more important than usual – it’s as important as taking your medicine.

Woman 2: In fact, it can actually help your medicine to work better.

Woman 3: The doctor told me it would help to speed my recovery and give my body a bit more strength.

Man 2: And I need to eat and drink well all the time, if I want to stay well as I get older.

Woman 4: Sometimes when you’re in hospital you don’t feel like eating.

Woman 1: I asked the nurse if my family could bring food from home so I had drinks and snacks on hand.

Man 1: I got into a bit of a routine, so that each time I ate or drank I’d get up and go to the bathroom or stretch my legs around the ward.

Man 3 (speaking in Mandarin): Sometimes I was embarrassed about needing help when I was unsteady on my feet.

Woman 2: I also didn’t want to ask for help sitting up to eat and I had a bit of trouble opening the packaging on my lunch.

Woman 3: But I quickly learned that that’s what hospital staff are there for. It’s okay to ask for help.

Man 2: Once I started drinking and eating regularly, it made a world of difference.

Woman 1: I guess the extra energy helped me to heal.

Narrator: Keep up your strength. Get well soon.

Older people in hospital: Keep moving, keep active

Woman 1: I always thought the most important thing to do when you’re in hospital is rest.

Man 1: I didn’t realise that staying in bed all the time could mean that you don’t get better as quickly.

Man 2 (speaking in Mandarin): It can lead to all sorts of other problems.

Woman 2: After two days in the ward, I was struggling with everyday things. Even walking to the bathroom, I was exhausted.

Woman 3: It got me worried a bit, so I asked my nurse – what sort of things should I be doing each day to help myself?

Woman 1: She said I should try to get up and move around as much as I could.

Man 3: And if I felt unsteady on my feet, I should ask for help.

Woman 1: It really helped and I started to feel more like myself again.

Man 1: And you know, sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference.

Woman 2: It can be as simple as getting out of bed, walking to and from the toilet every few hours.

Woman 1: Or just getting dressed each morning and sitting out of bed for my meals.

Woman 3: It used to worry me when the physio used to come by, but, you know, she wasn’t asking me to run a marathon.

Man 3: She just asked me to do a bit of a stretch, or walk down a corridor each morning.

Man 1: I always thought that being in hospital meant being looked after.

Woman 1: But now I know I have to help myself as well.

Narrator: Keep moving, keep active. Get well soon.

Older people in hospital: Manage your medication

Woman 1: When I went to the hospital, I took my medication with me. But then I was surprised that they took me off some tablets that I’d been taking for years.

Man 1: The doctor said as you get older your body changes and this can change the way medication affects your body. Sometimes, stopping some medications can help you feel better.

Woman 2: I guess the more medications you take, the more likely you are to have a problem or get bad side effects. Which makes sense, really.

Man 2: I wasn’t too sure what the medicine I was being given in hospital was for and I didn’t usually think of questioning the doctor or nurse. But now I know you must always ask questions.

Man 3: I asked them to tell me when they changed my medications so I could find out how much I should be taking, and when.

Woman 2: I also like to know why I need to take it, and what side effects there might be, so I try to remember to ask the nurse that too.

Woman 3 (speaking in Italian): I couldn’t quite recall the reason some of my of my tablets were changed when I came into hospital.

Man 1: There was so much information to take in I didn’t really understand it all, so I asked the pharmacist to write it down for me.

Woman 2: She told me to keep an up-to-date list of my medicines with me, everything from my prescriptions to vitamins and over-the-counter things.

Woman 1: Now I know that keeping track of my medication – it’s really important.

Narrator: Know what you’re taking. Get well soon.

Older people in hospital: Communication

Man 1: I always thought you just did what you were told in hospital.

Woman 1: After all, you’re there to be looked after.

Woman 2: But now I know I need to ask questions and tell my healthcare team what’s important to me.

Woman 1: I guess if I don’t tell them, how else will they know? And if I don’t ask questions, how will I know?

Woman 3: I felt guilty asking the nurse lots of questions - I thought he would be very busy but he said it was important that I did.

Man 2: I asked how to get better and go home soon

Woman 1: I also wanted to know when the doctor was going to visit my ward so I could ask my family to come in at the same time.

Woman 4: Because Dad was feeling sick and had trouble hearing in the noisy ward, he asked if we could visit at the same time as the doctor, to help him understand everything.

Man 3: Trying to remember it all was quite overwhelming for me, and my family, so we asked for it to be written down.

Woman 4: The doctor was very helpful. She repeated things for us and explained the medical terms we didn’t understand.

Man 2: She had some information in my own language, and offered an interpreter.

Man 1: It was tiring repeating my story to so many people during my stay, but I knew it would help us to work out a plan about what matters to me.

Narrator: It’s your task to ask. Get well soon.