Background
Mid Downs Hospital Radio is an independent charity formed in 1976. The original studio was set up in a small post room in the former Cuckfield Hospital which has since been closed and they transferred to a new larger studio in the then new The Princess Royal Hospital where it is situated today.
Currently there are 55 members aged from 18 to 68, including 30 on air broadcasters (18 men and 12 women), and between them they provide 60 hours of live programming per week for patients in recovery, or who may be too ill to watch TV but able to listen to radio.
Although hospital radio staff are independent from the other Hospital Trust volunteers, they have adopted some of the Trust's practices, which now includes for example occupational health forms which safeguard both volunteers and patients. The hospital has also increased the minimum age of volunteers from 16 to 18 years old.
Volunteers are recruited via the hospital radio magazine, the hospital radio website and at fundraising events, although some volunteers also apply speculatively for presenter jobs.
Broadcasting
As well as providing musical therapy, the station is a source of information for patients and staff, and the hospital radio volunteers are in discussion with the Trust to expand their technical system to allow broadcasting in some of the hospital's waiting areas.
Programming content is varied and includes music as well as requests but also details of services within the hospital (e.g. hairdressing, dieting advice, patient advice), and good news stories. Increasingly, there are interviews with hospital staff and external agencies. For example, recently information was broadcast about a ‘Home from Hospital' service for patients offered by the Red Cross where for 4 weeks after hospital discharge, volunteers provide help with shopping, cleaning etc. This was followed up by a one minute trailer for this service which was regularly repeated. Occasionally more controversial topics are covered (e.g. the MRSA ‘superbug' and the future of the A & E) and the station will invite Trust staff to talk about such issues on air. Presenters aim to get more interviews with clinical staff who may be able to provide medical advice on a wide range of issues such as cardiac rehabilitation care. Items broadcast over the hospital radio are generally well received, and the Patient Advice Liaison Service found an increase in the number of calls it received as a result of a promotion of their service broadcast on the station.
Motivation and Training
Few people who apply to volunteer for hospital radio have any radio industry background. At Mid Downs Hospital Radio only one volunteer recently came with any previous radio experience, having worked on pirate radio back in the 1960s. Some are keen to gain radio experience, but for other volunteers, their motivation is simply a love of music or a desire to give something back to the community. According to Alan French, the Chairman, ‘there are few people whom you cannot train'.
Training for presenters lasts 3 months on average, depending on whether someone is technically minded and IT literate, or whether they require extra training in these areas. Volunteers come in once a week for two hours, and sit in with an experienced presenter so they can learn in the studio as well as visiting the wards to meet “their listener”. Once they have completed the training and reached an approved standard, they are able to broadcast on their own.
Volunteers are also trained to be ‘request collectors'. There are currently 6 request collectors who are managed by a member of the hospital radio committee. Training lasts 4 weeks and volunteers learn the protocols of going on to wards – for example asking desk staff first if they can go round, and also being advised on avoiding areas where there may be barrier nursing.
Benefits for volunteers
Hospital radio not only benefits patients and staff, but volunteers also gain positive outcomes. To date, volunteers have gone on to paid employment with Heart 106.2, BBC Southern Counties Radio, coastal radio stations, communications companies and one has become a newsreader on a local commercial station. One volunteer who lost a partner and is a carer for a disabled child has found that playing music on their programme is extremely therapeutic, and another volunteer who works as a veterinary surgeon volunteers for 2 hours on her day off as she enjoys working in an entirely different role, away from her usual job. Patients also sometimes visit the studio to thank presenters for playing a request or for the service that is provided, which they find particularly satisfying. In many cases, patients are surprised to find that hospital radio staff are unpaid.
For further information, please contact
Alan French
Chairman
Mid Downs Hospital Radio
The Princess Royal Hospital
Lewes Road
Haywards Heath
West Sussex
RH16 4EX
Tel: 01444 441350
Email: chairman@mdr.org.uk
