STAFF at the Princess of Wales Community Hospital in Bromsgrove recently put themselves in their patients’ shoes.

As part of the NHS Change Day, a day of collective action to improve care for patients, staff at the Brook Haven unit, which is the older adult mental health service base for Bromsgrove and Redditch, used wheelchairs to see what life is like for patients who cannot walk.

Other staff members in the hospital made changes like wearing an arm sling for the day or using a crutch.

They adopted the tagline of “put yourself in their shoes”.

Sally McKeag, team leader for Older Adult Mental Health in Redditch and Bromsgrove, said: “It is a chance for staff to see what it’s like for patients who can’t walk by spending an hour or so of their working day using a wheelchair.

“As we work with older adults, some of them have difficulty walking so our pledge came from the idea of ‘putting yourself in your patients’ shoes.

“I’m sure after the day we’ll be even more sympathetic to our patients’ needs.”