14 Oct IPO Lisboa creates first room-adapted for people with ostomies and tube-feeding

in www.ipolisboa.min-saude.pt – 03 Oct, 2025

To signal Ostomy Awareness Day on 5 October, the IPO Lisboa is launching a project to create the first hospital room-adapted to the needs of people with ostomies and tube-feeding. The aim is to provide a space where patients can eat their meals and take care of themselves during their stay at the IPO with greater privacy and comfort.

Dozens of people with ostomies visit the IPO Lisboa daily, particularly for outpatient consultations and examinations. The need for a dedicated space with a dining area and adapted rest-room facilities has long been recognised. Following deliberation by the Board of Directors, this space will be created in one of the waiting rooms on the ground floor of the Central Pavilion in the Outpatient Consultations service by the end of the year.

Bringing together the Stoma Therapy Consultation and the Humanisation Commission, this project aims to improve the response to and reception of these patients and their families, reinforcing the principles of dignity and integration in care provision.

‘People living with an ostomy face daily barriers that limit their dignity, privacy, and ability to fulfil their basic human needs. At the Stoma Therapy Consultation, we have long recognised the need to adapt facilities and equipment, and to provide patients with ostomies at the IPO in Lisbon with conditions that facilitate self-care and nutrition,’ says Nurse Cláudia Silva (Coordinator of the Stoma Therapy Consultation at the IPO Lisboa).

“Seeing the ‘Lugar à mesa’ project approved by the Board of Directors and the creation of a space dedicated to people with ostomies demonstrates the sensitivity of the IPO Lisboa, and all its professionals, to the processes of transition, adaptation and daily overcoming of this population,” concludes the project manager.

“Improving conditions for patients and their families at IPO Lisboa, particularly regarding privacy, is one of the concerns of the Humanisation Committee. Projects such as this will shape the recently approved Humanisation Action Plan, responding to a need identified at this Institute. It is also part of our mission to seek solutions that humanise spaces,” emphasises the Humanisation Committee at IPO Lisboa.