A board game isn’t usually associated with NHS staff training but the realities of working in a pressurised Emergency Department have now been brought to life in an innovative new board game called The Floor.
The game, in reality a sophisticated training tool, was developed by Dr Salwa Malik an Emergency Medicine consultant at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (BSUH) working at The County Hospital in Brighton and at Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath.
Salwa invented the game back in 2015 whilst working as a registrar at The County but after recognising the potential of it as a training tool she developed the concept further adding dice, coin tosses and more to add to the enjoyment of playing The Floor. Funding to develop the game further came from the BSUH Charity and the kind donations of its supporters.
The Floor will now be used by teams of NHS staff to help develop skills, share knowledge and ultimately help improve performance and safety within an Emergency Department. Each game takes approximately 90 minutes and can be played with up to 12 people. It has been developed to be used over and again with each game presenting unique challenges to its players. It has been played and tested in a range of organisations and is formally part of the teaching and training programme for junior doctors at BSUH.
Salwa said: “I’m very excited to see The Floor launched to other hospital trusts and to know that others will now be able to benefit from the training opportunities it offers. The feedback I have had when introducing the game to new players has been overwhelming and the way in which it brings teams together in a lively way to work through issues and share perspectives is fantastic.”
Dame Marianne Griffiths, Chief Executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are so proud of Salwa and all that she has achieved with designing and launching a game that will help emergency departments across round the UK, and wider. I’ve played the game and it is a rollercoaster, simulating the real-life difficulties and challenges faced by those working in A&E.”
