Student nurses' idea adopted by Cwm Taf and Sheffield hospitals

An idea by student nurses to use yellow water jug lids to identify patients who need their fluids monitored is to be used in more hospitals.

The lids were trialled on a surgical ward at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital and are now being rolled out across Cwm Taf University Health Board.

The scheme has also been taken up by Sheffield University Hospital.

One of the nurses, Charlotte Phillips, said there had been a fall in patients at risk of dehydration.

The yellow jug lids will be used across the health board area, including at Prince Charles Hospital and the Royal Glamorgan

The yellow jug lids are used in place of traditional blue ones for patients who are at risk of dehydration and/or need their fluids restricted - a visual marker clearly identified by nurses on wards.

The six student nurses had shared their idea on social media last year, and were approached by Cwm Taf University Health Board to trial it.

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Ms Phillips said the ward in Sheffield University Hospital, which had also been using the lids over a six month period, had seen a threefold reduction in vulnerable patients at risk of infection and dehydration.

The nurses now hope to work with other Welsh health boards to roll the lids out across Wales.

Left to right, back row: Donna Walker, Cellan Howells, Tamara Konten, Rachel Lloyd-Jones. Left to right. front row: Charlotte Phillips, Cerys Davies.

Fellow nurse Donna Walker explained that it can be "quite difficult to know which patients are having their fluids monitored on a ward.

"Some patients, for example, may be on fluid restrictions following complications such as heart failure, whilst others might be being encouraged to drink more because they are dehydrated," she added.

"Our idea was to introduce an easy visual cue, which can easily show a nurse or a health care support worker on a busy ward which patients they should be monitoring for fluids."

Prof Angela Hopkins, interim executive director of nursing, midwifery and patient care for Cwm Taf health board, said: "The yellow lids are a simple and effective way to identify patients who may need assistance or encouragement to improve their hydration, which helps to minimise the risk of some infections and improves patients' health and well-being."