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Communication and handovers have to be effective

Posted By Abcd1012

"Communication and handovers have to be effective"

About: St John's Hospital / Maternity care

(as the patient),

I spoke with a excellent midwife on the phone, out of hours due to my own midwife working community hours only. The midwife who I spoke with treated me with compassion and empathy. I was advised to attend triage at the maternity ward in St Johns, which I did shortly afterwards.

When I attended the ward I stood at the nurses stations, as there is no designated waiting area that was noticeable. There was 2 midwifes at the station however nobody spoke to me at first. A clinical support worker came and introduced herself and took my notes. One of the midwifes then asked what I was there for, and that this had not been handed over to them. I was reluctant to state why I was there as this is a busy area, with visitors and people who had just had their babies, and this to me was a sensitive subject. So I responded I was told to come up for triage the midwife then questioned this, and commented that they hadn't been told. The other midwife then explained. Although my personal details were shared in a undignified way, they treated me with kindness at a very vulnerable time. 

The clinical support worker advised they would support me to a side round to wait to be assessed, they apologised to me as you could see from my face that I was shocked, and advised it had been a busy day.

The same staff member who was speaking to me at the start completed my triage. They did not introduce themselves, and attempted to use inappropriate humour. The words that were used, I would not repeat.

I want this to be feedback so that no expectant mothers have to go through this. I do appreciate that the wards are busy and times are hard, but people are going to continue to have babies and will require assessment and treatment,  therefore communication and handovers have to be effective so that patient experience is positive and person centred

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Responses

Response from Louise Davies, Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team, NHS Lothian 4 months ago
Louise Davies
Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 21/12/2023 at 12:52
Published on Care Opinion at 12:52

picture of Louise Davies

Dear Abcd1012

Thank you for sharing your feedback regarding the maternity team at St John's Hospital. I have discussed your comments with the Clinical Midwifery Manager, who advised the team value your feedback greatly.

The team were pleased to learn that the maternity unit midwife you spoke with on your first out of hours contact by telephone treated you with compassion and empathy and made arrangements for you to attend the unit for further review. They are extremely sorry however that there was a subsequent failure to share your referral details directly with the staff working in the receiving clinical area as this falls well below their expected high standards of patient interaction.

The team also wish to apologise that the midwife who undertook your triage and assessment failed to introduce themselves to you, and was unprofessional in their attempt to minimise the situation by the inappropriate use of humour.

The Clinical Midwifery Manager has spoken with the Charge Midwife for the in-patient maternity ward area and your feedback has been shared directly with the staff. The Charge Midwives working across the wider unit have reminded staff via their weekly safety brief process to ensure that patient information is communicated with the receiving clinical area so that situations that you have described are not repeated.

The maternity in-patient ward is currently reviewing the clinical activities that are carried out within the clinical areas and have taken steps to create a dedicated out-patient/triage area with an identified member of midwifery staff to ensure that there is a consistent point of contact for internal communication.

The team pride themselves on providing care that is safe, effective and person-centred and apologise for your negative experience.

Thank you again for sharing your feedback with us.

Best wishes

Louise

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