Subarachnoid Haemorrhage Support Group
Nursing Times Awards 2015
Emergency and Critical Care - Winner
John Radcliffe Hospital: Supporting Subarachnoid Haemorrhage Patients and Their Families After Discharge
The Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Subarachnoid Haemorrhage Support Group was set up in 2013, after feedback from our subarachnoid haemorrhage patients highlighted the need for a support service after discharge for both them and their families.
Our patients also expressed a wish to talk to other people with similar experiences.
We booked a room, made a cake and the rest is history.
We started with about eight to ten people at our first meeting, and by 2016 nearly 40 people were attending. Our meetings run every three months, and we hope that in future we may be able to run them monthly.
How meetings are organised
If you would like to join our group, please contact us with your email address.
We will email you an agenda and ask you to confirm if you are attending the next meeting. Minutes of each meeting are also sent out by email.
The meetings are very low key; we have a speaker on a topic that is relevant to the group.
Our focus group is a free service for all SAH patients and their families.
- All our speakers give us their time and advice for free.
- There is always free tea, coffee and cake.
Patients and families have the opportunity to talk to each other about any issues they may have. This is a great benefit to them, as they have similar symptoms, and it helps them to understand that what they are going through is part of the normal recovery process, and can take time. It really seems to put people's minds at rest.
We have an online closed discussion group - we will give you details at your first meeting.
Any issues highlighted by the group are raised at OUH Neurosciences teaching days; in this way we are helping to change and improve the experience of all our patients with this condition.
Feedback from our members
"All speakers have been amazing and very kind to attend our meetings and give their time; very relevant topics and informative."
"Getting to hear others who have been through the same experience and how they progressed. Good... to get the feeling you are not alone."
"Feeling the support was there - being able to communicate with others in a similar situation and understand more about the SAH."
Find us and contact us
- Catherine Lamb
SAH Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Neuro ICU
Level 1 West Wing
John Radcliffe Hospital
Oxford OX3 9DU
External links