Care Opinion

Text size

Theme

Language

Videos in BSL or ISL
Help with language translation
Help with reading or listening

Waiting times in Rapid Assessment and Care

Posted By Lizzyw

"Waiting times in Rapid Assessment and Care"

About: Crosshouse Hospital / Accident & Emergency Crosshouse Hospital / Cardiology Crosshouse Hospital / Rapid Assessment and Care Unit (RAC)

(as a service user),

I attended A&E at 6 a.m. with a rapid heart beat. I was triaged very quickly and taken for an ECG. I was diagnosed with atrial flutter and various treatments were discussed. I was transferred at 9 a.m. to RAC, and am still waiting at 12.30 for anyone to see me. I have been told that someone from cardiac will see me.

When I asked a nurse practitioner how long I would wait and to check that cardiology knew I was waiting, not one word of sympathy or help was given. The nurse told me that there was a hospital full of patients waiting for a long time. I am clearly just another number.

I appreciate that staff are very busy, but this unit isn’t, and attitudes like this indicate that some staff are clearly in the wrong job, I believe. I have not been given any indication of the time I’m expected to wait, as apparently I’m a tertiary patient! Clearly bottom of the pile.

Very frustrating and unhelpful. All I can do is wait, but it would be nice for an update of any sort, not to just be left in the corridor waiting.

More about:
Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Adam Williamson, Consultant Physician in Acute Medicine, University Hospital Crosshouse, NHS Ayrshire & Arran 2 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Adam Williamson
Consultant Physician in Acute Medicine, University Hospital Crosshouse,
NHS Ayrshire & Arran

Submitted on 12/01/2023 at 21:29
Published on Care Opinion on 13/01/2023 at 12:20

Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback on your recent experience of our Rapid Assessment and Care Unit.

The aim of the new unit is to provide timely assessment, investigations and hopefully same day discharge for patients who might have previously been admitted to hospital for this treatment.

I am sorry to hear your experience was not what we would have hoped for. You mention a wait to be reviewed by the heart specialists. Some patients require review by specialist doctors- in your case the Cardiologists. These doctors are usually looking after patients on their own wards before they review patients elsewhere in the hospital who have been referred to them. This can result in a delay treatment, investigations or discharge. The communication around this for you is clearly unsatisfactory – both in terms of our visible communication leaflets and signage, but also your interaction with staff.

I plan to review how we prioritise our patients in RAC who are awaiting specialist review and hope to discuss this with the other medical teams on how we can improve this. I will also review our current information about the RAC process and ensure information on the process and expected waits is communicated to our patients in RAC. You may have noticed we have 2 large posters outlining how patients may “move through” the Rapid Assessment and Care Unit- but I wonder if we need to add or alter some detail to these.

Thanks again for taking the time to give us this feedback. I hope you are now recovering and feeling better at home.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k