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A&E experience

Posted By Alna

"A&E experience"

About: University Hospital Monklands / Emergency Department University Hospital Wishaw / Emergency Department

(as a service user),

Was at A&E with my son who is not able to drive. Was referred by GP for sepsis  due to infection in finger which was not responding to antibiotics - he also had headache, stiffness of neck , fever and photophobia. Had some indication of cerebral irritation. All signs of sepsis.

On arrival my daughter-in-law and myself were not allowed to accompany him into examination room, which is understandable, but we were not allowed to even wait in waiting area of A&E. We were instructed to wait outside.

After several hours' wait, when we had enquired about his condition x2, we were then labelled as aggressive, although we had only asked politely on an update on his care.  Eventually we were told he was unable to be treated at that hospital and being transferred to another acute hospital. I was asked if I could drive him there by reception staff. 

We were given no paperwork and when I asked to speak to someone about where we were to go was spoken to by a nurse who I found very aggressive, I feel the nurse verbally attacked me before I even opened my mouth and told me a man in his 40s should not need his mother there with him. My son was very ill and confused with signs of sepsis. I asked the nurse to kindly lower their voice and stop shouting at me and please listen to what I was asking them, but they continued to abuse me. At no time did I raise my voice to them or be abusive to them.

At that point the nurse's manager interrupted them and they turned their back and stormed off. I did not make a complaint but informed the manager of the situation and asked for the information. The manager then proceeded to explain that the nurse was upset and stated that my son had been aggressive, which was not the case. He had cerebral irritation. Which is a sign of sepsis.

Although I did not have time to pursue this matter further as my son needed treatment,  I would suggest that the staff have a sepsis refresher course.

At Wishaw, he collapsed as we went in the door and was then provided with a wheelchair but we still had quite a lengthy wait in that waiting room where he was slumped in the chair until he was seen. I know that you were and are busy, but I feel this is not really acceptable.

This incident happened 2 years ago but it has made us very wary of attending the hospital for any reason. 

 
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Responses

Response from Julie Coyle, Senior Nurse - Emergency Care, University Hospital Wishaw, NHS Lanarkshire nearly 2 years ago
Julie Coyle
Senior Nurse - Emergency Care, University Hospital Wishaw,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 29/12/2023 at 13:50
Published on Care Opinion at 13:50

Dear Alna,

Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience as a relative within our Emergency Department 2 years ago. I am sorry to hear that you had a poor experience and hope that you took the opportunity to discuss your complaint at the time, with our patient affairs department.

I note during your feedback that you were unable to be with your son at the time and this would have been due to restrictions that were in place due to covid-19. However, I am happy to let you know that loved ones are now welcomed back into the department as restrictions have now been relaxed.

I will take this opportunity to share your feedback with our staff within the Emergency Department in order to take any appropriate learning and urge that if you have any further complaints related to a healthcare experience, then please contact our patient affairs department who will investigate and escalate your concerns.

Wishing you a healthy and happy new year.

Best wishes,

Julie.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by Alna (a service user)

As I said I did not raise this at the time with patient affairs as I was more concerned re my son receiving appropriate treatment and getting him to Wishaw Hospital. My complaint re Monklands was not the fact that we could not be with my son but that we were asked to wait outside the building in the pouring rain and were not allowed into the waiting room. We were also not kept informed as to his condition while in the dept and on enquiry were labelled as aggressive which was certainly not the case as at no time were we advised that we had raised our voices, spoken inappropriately or at any time did reception staff seem aggrieved at our enquiries.

All aggression was directed to myself from a member of staff before I had even spoken to them. They we rude, disrespectful, had no idea what my enquiry was as they didn't even ascertain that. I was met with a verbal tirade.

My other main concern was that staff did not appear to be familiar with sepsis presentation which was extremely alarming and then to compound matters after collapsing at the door of Wishaw A/E my son was still left slumped on a chair in the waiting room, where no-one was asked to wait outside as at Monklands, with no observations being obtained by staff.

As you can probably realise I am not happy with level of care but as my son did make a full recovery from this episode, although he remains disabled, we decided not to pursue the matter further taking up valuable NHS time. I can say however in retrospect that this was probably the wrong thing to do and we should have made a formal complaint at the time however as I was working for NHS Lanarkshire at the time we did not.

However since retiring from NHS Lanarkshire after being totally disillusioned by your board I thought that you should be aware of the types of staff you are employing. I do not require a response to this as I have no faith in the board at all now

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