Steve Coulby, a volunteer at Nottingham Hospitals radio scooped “Recognising Innovation” award at this weekends National Hospital Broadcasting Association conference.
The award recognised the stations “Wifi radio” project.
Steve identified that there were many patients in the hospital that had no access to entertainment as they did not have access to a smart device. To solve this issue, he came up with the idea of building ‘Radio’ units which can be placed in wards, day rooms, side rooms, and bedsides. Utilising the hospital guest wifi network the units play the hospital stations output via inbuilt speakers or via the headphone socket.
The idea, design and build was all undertaken by Steve and 50 units were created.
Innovation and resourcefulness were also needed during the project due to components shortages. He worked directly with suppliers in the UK and USA in order to source the needed parts.
Show presenters from the station now regularly visit some of the wards where the radios are and do dedicated request shows which are proving incredibly popular.
"I cannot thank you and your team enough for the great radios we received. The patients love them as well as the staff, they are currently in use daily, it certainly helps for our older patients and those with dementia. Really appreciate your teams support."
"We love the radios, they make so much difference to the patients and staff"
"When we switch the radio's on the mood and atmosphere in the ward improves."
" The radios are working great and the music is awesome."
Nottingham Hospitals Radio is a registered charity that provides entertainment to the patients and staff of Nottinghams City and QMC hospitals for nearly 50 years. It is run entirely by volunteers and receives no income from the hospital trust. Donations and sponsorship for the station are always very welcome to allow the service to continue. https://nhradio.org.uk
Steve Coulby joined Nottingham Hospitals radio in December 2019, completing his training by March of 2020 and did his first live solo show at the start of Covid Lockdown. He did 3 request shows a week all the way through Covid lockdown. He became the global face of the station as the UK Hospital radio service nationally became a story for the international press featuring on TV, Radio, and Newspapers globally. He became a trustee and committee member taking on the role of Programme Controller. Whilst he doesn’t do regular shows at the moment, he can still be heard sometimes and he is busy in the background trying to improve the station and take it forward.
