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Care Opinion

No cushions or soft seats available

Posted By Claggan

"No cushions or soft seats available"

About: Antrim Area Hospital / Accidents & Emergency

(as a carer),

My Dad recently attended Antrim ED, the staff in ED were great with him considering the pressures that they were under.  

However after waiting all night in a plastic chair he developed a pressure sore on his sacrum. He is an older man and there were no cushions or soft seats available for him to sit on while he waited to be admitted.  This is an issue which could have easily been prevented if there were more padded chairs or cushions available for older persons to use while they waited.
There was also another person who attended ED who was incontinent on the corridor floor.  This took a long time to be cleaned up in the middle of the night and my family and others raised this to the staff.
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Responses

Response from Cathy McCoy, Clinical Service Manager, Acute Medicine, NHSCT 4 months ago
Cathy McCoy
Clinical Service Manager, Acute Medicine,
NHSCT

Submitted on 06/12/2023 at 16:10
Published on Care Opinion at 16:10

Dear Claggan

thank you so much for taking the time to feedback regarding our service. I am sorry your dad had a long wait in ED. This is no ideal. We have tried to put leather covered chairs in the waiting areas however it has not been proved to be cost effective as they get vandalised by some members of the public and are expensive to get recovered.

Plastic chairs are used in the main departments as they are lighter to move and washable but they were never designed for patients to sit on for long periods of time. Nursing staff will try if possible to move elderly patients onto recliner chairs, trolleys or beds. I am sorry this did not happen for your dad.

I have raised your concerns regarding the timeliness of cleaning with nursing staff as unacceptable.

I do hope that your dad has made a good recovery and I am sorry he developed a pressure ulcer due to the wait he had.

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