Care Opinion

Please take breaks away from patients

Posted By corvusky39

"Please take breaks away from patients"

About: Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / Gynaecology

(as a service user),

I attended for early pregnancy loss. Lots of staff members including nurses, consultants and HCAs all wandering past an area where woman are waiting to find out or have just found out that their babies have died or have other complications, on their phones, fraternising with colleagues or drinking tea and coffee. 

It's at best insensitive and at worst grossly unprofessional. I've worked in the medical field myself and if myself or my colleagues had been caught displaying the same behaviour, we would have faced disciplinary action or worse.

Everyone goes on about how much the NHS is struggling, the waiting lists and how overworked the staff are. People need breaks on long shifts of course, but do it away from the patients.

Also a lot of staff seem to be in rooms on their phones. It's very frustrating to see when you've been waiting 2 hours for a simple blood test that takes 5 minutes.

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Responses

Response from Kate Saddler, Clinical Matron & Advanced Clinical Practitioner (Eastern Services), Women’s Health (Eastern Services), Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust last week
We have made a change
Kate Saddler
Clinical Matron & Advanced Clinical Practitioner (Eastern Services), Women’s Health (Eastern Services),
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 24/09/2024 at 12:35
Published on Care Opinion at 13:07

picture of Kate Saddler

Dear corvusky39,

Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback after your appointment in the early pregnancy unit. I'm so sorry for your loss and apologise for your negative experience in the unit.

The early pregnancy unit has a lot of staff each day walking through the unit as it is the access route for the Gynaecology ward and the operating theatres. I will remind staff of their visibility in the unit and not to use the area as a place to talk to colleagues. I apologise for any additional distress this caused you. This feedback will be given via the Gynaecology Governance group and included in the monthly newsletter which all staff can see.

The early pregnancy unit office also acts as a staff room for staff on their breaks as we prioritise all available space for clinic rooms. I fully appreciate that this may look like staff are not working, but with multiple clinics running each day on the unit, there are staff working in different clinics and as such taking different break times.

Staff being on their phones during clinical work isn't acceptable and I apologise if this is what you witnessed and will ensure staff are reminded not to use their personal phones at work, however with the introduction of the electronic patient chart Epic, there are iPhones (called rovers) which the clinical staff use to record patient data.

The Clinical Nurse Manager of the unit, Emma Saunders, will give your feedback to the team via their monthly team meeting and is also going to introduce new signage to the early pregnancy waiting area to explain the use of rovers in the department and a sign for the office/staff room.

Again, I am very sorry for your poor experience of our service and feedback such as yours is crucial for us to improve the patient experience so thank you once again for taking the time to share your story.

Yours sincerely, Kate

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