"The treatment of my daughter"

I am writing to express my deep concern and disappointment regarding the treatment my daughter received at NHS Scotland. My daughter was admitted to Wishaw General Hospital recently due to difficulties in retaining fluids and frequent vomiting. The following day, a cannula was inserted into her arm, which unfortunately became dislodged while still inside her. Despite the machine indicating completion of the infusion process three times, the nursing staff failed to address the issue of the loose cannula, leading to my daughter's hand swelling to three times its normal size.

Furthermore, during this period, my daughter's heart rate escalated to 185 beats per minute. Despite three nurses being in contact with my daughter during this time, none of them noticed the issue with the loose cannula. It was my partner who eventually noticed that my daughter's arm had become severely swollen and had turned blue. This discovery was deeply alarming, and had my partner not noticed it, the consequences could have been severe.

Upon our transfer to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the medical staff attempted to insert the cannula into my daughter's other arm, hand, feet, and legs, but were unsuccessful due to her severe dehydration and collapsing veins. Ultimately, they had to resort to inserting the cannula into her scalp, which was a traumatic experience for both myself and my partner. This situation could have been avoided if my daughter had not been so dehydrated and her veins were not collapsing upon attempting to insert the cannula.

While my daughter had the cannula in her head, it began to leak blood, which ended up staining my partner's sleeve as she was holding my daughter. I immediately reported this issue to the desk, but the response I received was a blank and expressionless look from the nurse, who then returned to their duties on the computer. When a support assistant finally attended, they seemed flustered and unsure of what to do.

I am deeply troubled by the apparent passing of blame and lack of urgency displayed by the nursing staff during this incident. The fact that the computer or machine did not beep to indicate a change in flow to my daughter's head was also concerning. Considering what we had been through at Wishaw General Hospital prior, I felt that the nurse was attempting to shift the blame onto me.

I kindly request a comprehensive investigation into this matter and the implementation of appropriate measures to address the concerns outlined above. It is crucial that proactive steps are taken to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future and to ensure that patients, especially infants, receive the exceptional care they deserve.

I would greatly appreciate a prompt response to this complaint, outlining the actions that will be taken to address the concerns raised. I trust that you will treat this matter with the utmost seriousness and work diligently towards enhancing the quality of care provided by NHS Scotland.