"This is appalling service"

About: Falmouth Community Hospital / Minor Injuries Unit MIU Falmouth Community Hospital Minor Injuries Unit MIU Falmouth TR11 2JA Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske) / Emergency Department Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske) Emergency Department Truro TR1 3LJ

Posted by Clarebx24 (as a friend), 12 months ago

This morning my husband and I took our friend to A and E following a fall and suspected arm/wrist fracture. We drove to Truro and they went into the A and E department to meet with the triage nurse.
Our friend got very anxious as she recently lost her husband and so when asked about her next of kin she had to answer that there was no one as there are no children. The nurse then proceeded to say that they don’t treat minor injuries and that she would have to go to Falmouth hospital.
There was no apology and no reason given except that they now only treated heart or stroke patients. Really - since when? Nobody waiting appeared to be that ill and all staff clearly stated that it is an A - for "accident" - and Emergency department.
We drive back for another half an hour to be Falmouth hospital to be triaged again. At the time of writing she has now been there for 3 hours and still hasn’t been x rayed. This is appalling service and I am not optimistic that anything will happen for at least another hour!

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Responses

Zoe Locke

Head of Patient Experience / Carers Lead,

Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 06/08/2024 at 17:48

Published on Care Opinion at 17:48

I am sorry to hear you had a negative experience of care at Royal Cornwall Emergency Department and Falmouth Minor Injuries Units.
We endeavour to update our websites to ensure patients and carers can find the right treatment and you will find guidance pages on when to attend hospital and which one is going to be most suitable depending on your ailment. If it is not a life-threatening emergency the website asks that patients and carers consider other options before attending the now 'Emergency Department' at Treliske. This allows emergency staff to concentrate on people whose lives are at risk and saves you a long wait. The care providers may suggest you attend one of the counties minor injury units where you will be seen and assessed more quickly and efficiently than you may be in an emergency department. Your feedback suggests this is likely what has happened and you were advised to attend a minor injury unit. Whilst I appreciate this is an inconvenience when you have already travelled we always suggest you call 111 or use the websites to inform where you would be best to visit prior to attending.
Minor Injury Units are at several community hospitals and we advise people with sprains, strains, broken bones, wound infections, minor burns etc to attend one of the units opposed to attending the emergency department. The Minor Injury Units are equipped to deal with these kind of concerns.
Assessment of someone's wellbeing can not be determined by how unwell someone looks and the team will always see people by priority of their condition opposed to the time that they arrived. You will be triaged which will aid decision making as to the priority of the care that is required.
The websites also share the latest waiting times for urgent care and minor injury units across Cornwall. Whilst these may change depending on priority and urgency of care they endeavour to keep them as updated as possible.
I do hope this gives more clarity and would suggest you call 111 for advice which is free any time of day or night or can be accessed online if you are unsure of where is best to go for clinical care and assessment. If someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk, call 999 straight away.
Please let me know if you would like to discuss your feedback in more detail. You can email the patient experience team cft.patientexperience@nhs.net if you would like to discuss further.

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Robyn Jones

Sister, Emergency Department,

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

I work in the Emergency Department as a Sister. I support a team of nurses and doctors in delivering emergency care. I co-manage performance and conduct with the ED senior team in line with local and national policies. I believe that maintaining contact post attendance with our services users is really beneficial. Gaining your valuable feedback can help us create changes so we can deliver the best service we can.

Submitted on 09/08/2024 at 15:13

Published on Care Opinion at 15:29

Dear Clarebx24
I am so sorry to hear your experience at RCHT ED was not of the standard we strive for. It does not appear you were given a respectful or full explanation as to why we redirect minor injuries. If I may, minor injuries such as suspected fractured arms are redirected where possible and in agreement with the patient to help facilitate the ED team to focus on the more poorly patients elsewhere in the department.
I hope that your relatives arm has been seen to and sorted and they are on the mend.
I apologise once again, and I will feedback to the team to offer a full and professional explanation on our services offered.
Thank you for taking your time to feedback.
Kind regards
Robyn
ED, Sister

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Update posted by Clarebx24 (a friend) 12 months ago

Whilst I appreciate the responses given here I still find it quite incomprehensible that the hospital expects a patient who is in considerable pain to have to organise another journey to a hospital 5 miles away!
In this instance my relative was fortunate in having us to drive her back to Falmouth from Truro. In other situations this would not have been possible- so what is the patient expected to do? Wait an hour for a bus and then get a taxi with a fractured wrist? This would be outrageous which is why in the circumstances I think it is inexcusable to send a patient to another hospital, when the facilities are there to treat them and there is no apparent queue for more serious or urgent cases.
Surely this is just common sense - we should not be following what the book says but rather take a look at the actual situation and make an informed decision to help the patient in question. Unfortunately this is just another case where common sense is needed but seems sadly missing.

Robyn Jones

Sister, Emergency Department,

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

I work in the Emergency Department as a Sister. I support a team of nurses and doctors in delivering emergency care. I co-manage performance and conduct with the ED senior team in line with local and national policies. I believe that maintaining contact post attendance with our services users is really beneficial. Gaining your valuable feedback can help us create changes so we can deliver the best service we can.

Submitted on 16/08/2024 at 08:57

Published on Care Opinion at 08:57

Dear Clarebx24
I would like to support you further with this. When redirection is offered by the triage nurse, it is supposed to be informed and agreed by the patient. ED do have the facilities to see minor injuries. Redirection is offered to facilitate emergencies in resuscitation and rapid assessment for those arriving by ambulance when the department is at capacity which it normally is on a day to day basis. Resus and rapid assessment are located elsewhere in the department and not visible to those in the waiting area.
I can assure you, all staff who work in triage are expected to work to the redirection standard operating procedure which states to offer redirection but to allow patient to stay depending on their circumstances. I will remind all staff of this but if I could ask you to contact the patient experience team with further information so I can feedback to the individual staff member you came into contact with to ensure reflective learning, I would really appreciate it.
Thank you again for your time and feedback, it does help up to continually improve.
Kind regards
Robyn
ED, Sister

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Zoe Locke

Head of Patient Experience / Carers Lead,

Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 16/08/2024 at 09:50

Published on Care Opinion at 09:50

Further to Robyn's response, please do email the patient experience team. One of the team can call you to discuss in more detail.
The email is cft.patientexperience@nhs.net

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