The 'quiet' hospital ward at Royal Cornwall Hospital helping new mums and babies get home faster
Watch the full report on the 'silent' hospital ward helping mums and babies
A new mobile app to reduce noise on a mother and baby ward at the Royal Cornwall Hospital by diverting noisy bedside call-bells is being hailed a big success.
Midwives on the Wheal Fortune Ward have been trialling the new 'Silent Hospital' system.
It means patients can alert medical staff using an app, instead of ringing a noisy buzzer.
The staff say the digital upgrade is making their lives less stressful while patients are reporting a much calmer environment. The new setup is also leading to patients being discharged an average of half a day sooner.
Ashley Tindale recently had her fourth child Sorren on the ward. She said it was "very different" compared to her experience with her first baby.
"[There were] lots of bells ringing, lots of coming and going, whereas this time you didn't have any of that.
"I felt like they were lot quicker to kind of respond then last time."
The staff at Wheal Fortune care for mums and babies who need extra support after birth and Ashley says it really helped her rest.
"I think that if you've been poorly, you do feel that you're on the back foot so anything that can happen that makes you feel a bit more rested is really brilliant," she told ITV News.
"It really did help us. Even my husband commented on it."
Josie Dodgeson, the deputy director of midwifery, admits before the noise on the ward was 'chaotic' and there was a "heightened atmosphere" for staff.
"The minute the silent call-bell system went in there was an air of calm," she said.
"It was visibly noticeable as you walked on the ward and you almost lowered your voice when you introduced yourself to people."
Kath Bell, the ward manager, describes how the app works.
"It vibrates and gives you three sounds as well, but only to the person that the call was going to. So the other handsets will remain silent," she said.
"The important thing with that is if you're not free, it can move around to someone that is so the call bell isn't lost."
The pilot scheme has been extended to the end of 2025 with more ways of silencing the wards being explored.
Roberta Fuller is programme director for the planned new Women and Childrens Hospital and says this is part of the modernising the maternity wards can do before the hospital is built.
"This is the first step into making a better, more therapeutic environment. So we silence call-bells, we can then silence medical equipment, we move on to looking at continuous patient monitoring to allow the workforce to be used differently."