"Thank you but room for QI"

Accompanied my elderly mum in by ambulance through nhs 24, sudden onset chest pain.

Ambulance crew incredible.

Arrived to a queue of ambulances and ambulance crew discussed handover with duty consultant.

Into busy waiting room with morphine on board. Triaged after approximately 40 minutes.

Mum had cannula in situ, disconcerting to hear sn knew nothing about mum, no handover received and only asked if ambulance via a&e.

Subsequently seen by medics, slightly concerned about lack of hand hygiene, ppe and questionable technique in obtaining further bloods. Clearly very busy and under pressure.

Sent for xray and despite advising staff mum felt lightheaded, staff left her to change and walk into room without accompanying her.

Return visit to waiting room and 2nd visit to medics. Again, poor recognition of ipc and ppe and poor technique.

Glad to take mum home.

Totally appreciate pressures of a busy department but communication seemed to be ineffective and ipc concerns. NHSL, I am one of your team and am very grateful, but I can’t help feeling there is room for improvement - even my mum was questioning the practice of a length of transpore being stuck to the arm of a pt chair, cannula being removed without gloves and put in bin and said tape being used to secure a swab. No hand hygiene observed at any point in the visit: again, they were all doing a fabulous job under pressure but standards need to be maintained.

Overall though, great job. Thank you all for your support.