Visualising the patient pathway   Employee experience     Visitor experience    What next?

Opened in 2012, the Abbott site in Sittingbourne – Sovereign House - is principally responsible for the picking, packing and shipping of orders to hospitals or directly to patients, despatching around 1 million shipments per year. Home to 30,000 sq ft of warehousing space, the facility stores the entire range of Abbott products as well as ancillaries, such as pumps, nasogastric tubes, syringes and other medical devices. The site is also home to one of Abbott’s Hospital2Home contact centres.

Visualising the patient pathway

The creative revamp, which took place in late 2023, was driven by the idea of immersing the Sittingbourne team in the journeys of the patients who benefit from the products they handle every day - providing a strong visual aid to remind them of the impact that their role has on patients and the NHS. It’s a subtle but compelling initiative that has made a positive enhancement to workplace culture and helped to further instil Abbott’s values in each of its employees.

As you’re welcomed through the doors into Sovereign House, the main corridor is adorned with a photographic mural of uplifting imagery, representing the journey of a Hospital2Home patient. 

The sequence depicts some of the key touchpoints of the patient pathway including:

• The patient being discharged from acute care, with the help of the H2H team
• Speaking with an H2H Coordinator who helps to ensure the patient has all the right feeds, equipment, and advice for their continued care at home
• A visit from an Abbott Nurse Advisor who makes sure the patient is settled, trained, and fully supported with everything they need
• Receiving one of their regular Abbott deliveries with the equipment and feeds they need, coordinated by the H2H team
• Embracing the comfort and loving environment of home and family


Please note, images are for example purposes only and are not of real patients.

As you reach the corridor’s end, a patient is shown, in good health, walking alongside a member of the Abbott team as they are discharged from the H2H service, an image which flows onto the exit door itself as you leave, signifying that the patient is now leaving the service with optimism and returning to normality, whatever shape that might take.

On the opposite wall, Abbott’s mantra “life. to the fullest” takes prominence, leading to a showcase display of the product ranges that Abbott provides to help patients on their journey to good health.

Within the warehouse itself, banners denoting Abbott’s core values – Pioneering, Achieving, Caring, Enduring – have been erected, accompanied by positive imagery of patients enjoying living life to the fullest. Similarly, a father and son image over the warehouse door affirms to employees that “We’re all on a journey together” as they leave work each day.

Employee experience

This engaging initiative in Sittingbourne demonstrates to Abbott employees, such as the warehouse team, how what they do every day has an impact on patient outcomes and their lives in general. It immerses the Abbott team in the brand, highlighting Abbott’s integral purpose and the importance of their personal role within the service, giving them context on what that ultimately means for the patient. By involving and encompassing everyone as part of a collective journey, each individual is empowered and driven by the knowledge of how they play a vital role in delivering nutritional support and helping achieve positive outcomes for patients.

Abbott is committed to cultivating an environment where team members come to work knowing they are adding value, feeling engaged, driven to improve, and ready to go the extra mile – appreciating the positive impact that even the smallest task might have on a patient. At the end of the day, Abbott employees should be able to go home feeling proud that they’ve made a difference by providing an excellent service.

Feedback from the team has been extremely positive. Staff have noted a warm atmosphere, positivity and fulfilment among colleagues who now have a greater understanding and appreciation for the role they play in the patient journey.

Visitor experience

Visualising the patient pathway has also proved important for highlighting Abbott’s purpose and impact when contract visitors attend the Sittingbourne facility. An initial part of any site visit comprises a guided tour which includes the ‘patient pathway’ corridor of Sovereign House. The visual narrative of the patient journey demonstrates to customers that Abbott is an extension of the service they offer. When they choose to work with Abbott, a symbiotic relationship is formed. Both Abbott and its contracts have the shared goal of supporting patients through nutrition, aiming to enable them to move seamlessly from acute care to the comfort of home.

Abbott’s job is to ensure that the right product is in the right place at the right time, so that no patient is left without the feeds that are vital to their health, or the necessary support. This is a purpose in which Abbott employees take great pride, and visitors can see first-hand the painstaking care and consideration that the Sittingbourne staff put into their roles behind the scenes – a culture and mindset supported by internal initiatives that involve and inform all team members.

Contract visitors have left Sittingbourne feeling enlightened, acknowledging that they would never have imagined the complexities behind the order process and the pride and care taken by those people behind the service.

What next?

Next on the agenda is the atrium, a communal area of the Sittingbourne facility. Initial plans are to exhibit a nostalgic piece of Abbott history with a retrospective on the original site in Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey, dating back to 1963. Something which is still regularly spoken of fondly by long-standing team members at Sittingbourne.

UK--2400053  |  APRIL 2024