Critical Care Patient Diaries

8 AUGUST 2025

Thanks to generous donations the Critical Care teams at Scarborough and York hospitals have created a new patient diary which is personalised to each patient. The diary allows staff to note down information such as a patient’s hobbies, for example a staff nurse wrote a patients favourite football team scores in their diary. Staff are encouraged to find out the patients favourite music so it can be played and ask their loved ones information about how they like their appearance to be. 

Hannah Davis, Deputy Sister and Gemma Morriss, Staff Nurse in Critical Care in Scarborough explained;

“Critical Care patients have an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression, and the provision of a patient diary has been shown to reduce this.”

Hannah explained how the diary is a patient focused account of their journey through critical care;

“A nursing entry is written on every shift, and the family can join in with diary entries too. We keep the admission details simple but factual and use terminology with explanations. The day-to-day entries are all relevant to changes experienced, milestones and individual goals. The diaries can also help to understand confused memories and establish what was likely an awareness of reality. We also run a follow up clinic which gives patients the opportunity to discuss their experience and ask questions about their illness and hospital stay.

“The diaries can also help fill gaps of what happened during a patient’s critical illness. They can also help with the grieving process for relatives of the person whom the diary is written for passes away.”

Gemma added:

“I often write simple things such as the weather or I like to make the patient feel themselves by doing their hair how they like it. Thank you to York & Scarborough Hospitals Charity for funding the diaries as they make such a difference to our patients and their loved ones.”