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In challenging circumstances these staff done their best

Posted By Katherinec

"In challenging circumstances these staff done their best"

About: Daisy Hill Hospital / Elective Overnight Stay Centre/Gynaecology Ward Daisy Hill Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a carer),

My mum became unwell and attended daisy hill an and e.  We were treated so well by the staff especially nurses Aiden, Maura and Doctor Ciara. 

In what appeared very challenging circumstances these staff done their best to ensure my mum was comfortable by ensuring she had a bed to wait to get into the ward, giving an extra pillow and overall just being so nice, approachable and knowledgeable. 

Mum spent the night in an and e waiting for the bed and then we went up to the ward. We were met by nurse Katherine who was just as great. She was really helpful, friendly and put my mum at real ease. When mum became more unwell she was very attentive and took action quickly. 

Although I understand that additional beds have been put into wards due to ward closures and short staff, what I will say is staff most definitely appeared under pressure with this, also the practicalities of the space available is not great. All of the patients  including my mum needed to use a rollator to mobilise and the additional bed do present a major falls risk and to be honest from a patient perspective absolutely no privacy… mum was sharing a bay with another lady which meant there was no ability to pull a curtain to change etc.

The staff of Daisy hill are most definitely your biggest asset, please make sure this compliment gets to them.

I do suggest if bays need to be shared that an additional curtain or privacy screen is used to separate the bed space and provide privacy. Although I really do not think this is an ideal fix as the rooms themselves are really not big enough to allow beds, chairs and cupboards for more than 6 patients, especially when they need to use aids to mobilise.

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Responses

Response from Paul Smyth, Interim Head of Service Emergency Departments, Acute & Emergency Medicine, Southern Health and Social Care Trust last week
Paul Smyth
Interim Head of Service Emergency Departments, Acute & Emergency Medicine,
Southern Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 16/04/2024 at 14:33
Published on Care Opinion at 14:33

Thank you for taking the time to post your feedback on your mothers experience in the emergency department in Daisy Hill Hospital. We will feed this back to the staff. We hope your mum gets better and is home soon.

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Response from Josie Matthews, Lead Nurse, Surgery & Elective Care, Southern Health and Social Care Trust 3 days ago
Josie Matthews
Lead Nurse, Surgery & Elective Care,
Southern Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 26/04/2024 at 11:34
Published on Care Opinion at 11:34

Dear Katherinec,

Thank you for taking the time to post your feedback on Care Opinion. Feedback like this is greatly valued,

To try and maintain a flow though our Emergency Department the Trust during periods of high emergency admissions escalate to admit additional patients to our wards.

As a Trust we are aware that the location of an additional patient in a bay can impact on their personal space and privacy and the other patients. We do try and alleviate this as much as possible by the use of additional privacy screens etc and I am disappointed to read this was not in place for your Mum. I will review this with ward Sr.

The Trust has developed and is progressing further alternative ambulatory pathways for assessment and treatment of patients to reduce hospital admissions and the escalation for additional beds.

Wishing your Mum continued good health.

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Update posted by Katherinec (a carer)

Thank you for your response. I appreciate the rationale behind the additional beds in the wards the addition of a privacy screen is by no way a solution to the overall problem of the practicality of an additional patient in a ward that is made for 6 beds and 6 of all the things that come with a patient ie cupboard, chair, table, mobility aids. I don’t know if it is feasible but it may be useful to utilise wall space for cupboards and maybe under bed space for storage.

I appreciate that staffing levels are no doubt the root cause due to ward closures etc.

My mother was since discharged and readmitted through DHH Ed. Once again, we experienced excellent treatment and care from all the nurses and doctors. Especially staff nurse Katie in ED. We were triaged and given an answer to the issue within 2 hours. The wait for a bed on the ward was 24hours but it was appreciated that a bed was given for mum to lie on rather than a trolley.

Again the staff are second to none on Female medical. We have had a number of family members treated and cared for by the staff of daisy hill and continue to be so grateful for their help.

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