Coproduction - Renaming an Inpatient Women’s Ward
A new female-only ward needed a name that reflected its values and welcoming atmosphere. Sheffield Flourish worked alongside Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SHPU), following the refurbishment and establishment of its second female-only ward, to find a name that reflected its users’ interests and could be coherently embedded in the ward’s environment, both visually and emotionally.
“Names are extremely powerful, and you want a name that you can relate to, a name that will help to empower you. We looked at the qualities we wanted the name to suggest, and at inspirational women connected to health, wellbeing, and Sheffield.”
– Debjani Chatterjee
It was immensely important to both Sheffield Flourish and SHPU to create a space for the community, with the help of the community, and so they ran a series of in-person co-production sessions. SHPU staff who would be working on the ward, women with lived experience of mental ill-health and women who had been inpatients before attended the co-production meetings. The sessions explored experiences of ward names, what feels supportive and what feels alienating, whilst acknowledging what should be avoided in a ward name.
Participants were invited to choose images that evoked a sense of safety and calm for them and to share why they were drawn to them. This allowed themes of creativity, nature, resilience and belonging to emerge. As a result, it was decided that the new name needed to reflect a sense of belonging and community whilst signifying strength and representation of strong women. As community opinions and openness are at the heart of co-production, final name suggestions were shortlisted and sent out to be voted on. The list includes strong women like Daphne Steele, and names inspired by Sheffield’s landscapes to encourage a sense of local belonging.
Sheffield Flourish and SHPU encourage people from all walks of life to share their opinions and work together to make change through co-production. If you’d like to be a part of creating shared solutions or voting on the women’s ward name, please visit The Learning Space on the Sheffield Flourish Website.
