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Lack of care

Posted By Dib50

"Lack of care"

About: Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance University Hospital Wishaw / Emergency Care

(as a relative),

My mum was seen by GP and referred to medical team at Wishaw with suspected blood clot 

Ambulance requested but took 7 hours … on arrival she was put on waiting area of a very busy Accident and Emergency on a wheelchair -  bearing in mind she’s in her 80s, feeling unwell and in her nightclothes…

4 hours later we still sitting here she was seen briefly 3 hours ago and bloods taken and vital signs since then no one has checked she is ok or needed anything or given update … she is one of many patients in similar circumstances and no one paying any attention to them  

Who would know if don’t deteriorated or even died sitting there it is outrageous no one monitoring these patients or bringing them water or assisting them to toilet  

I’m totally appalled at this lack of care 

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Responses

Response from Faith McCrea, Service Manager, Emergency & Medical Services, University Hospital Wishaw, NHS Lanarkshire 8 months ago
Faith McCrea
Service Manager, Emergency & Medical Services, University Hospital Wishaw,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 11/10/2024 at 16:21
Published on Care Opinion at 16:21

Dear Dib50

Thank you for sharing your recent experience of our Medical Unit here at University Hospital Wishaw. I am sorry to hear of your poor experience and would like to apologise for the wait your mum had within the busy ED waiting room. I would like to take this opportunity to advise that we have a centred reception area within this waiting room and the staff monitor and escalate any patient issues from the waiting room to the nursing and medical teams. If patients require assistance in the waiting room the Reception staff are happy to be advised of this and they can speak to the appropriate staff member to offer help. Although we do not have the facilities to provide all patients with water we have provided vending machines within the waiting room.

I fully appreciate that you are concerned about the experience your mum encountered and I can assure you that we take all concerns from our patients very seriously in order to improve our services, amidst the pressures the Emergency services are under.

Unfortunately, due to bed capacity pressures on the site we do not have the ability for all patients to go to a cubicle space and wait for blood and other results.

We are working on a range of improvements to reduce waits within the Emergency Department and will continue to progress with these initiatives.

Again, I apologise for the issues that your mum experienced and I sincerely hope your mum’s health is improving

Regards

Faith

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Update posted by Dib50 (a relative)

On that night none of the vending machines were working.

When I asked anything at reception they informed me that they do not deal with the assessment of patients and I should go knock on the door until someone answered.

I was not the only relative who had to do this numerous times to be told there was nothing they could do, and eventually I had to go to nearby garage to get food and drink for my mum and administer her pain relief, which thankfully I had taken with me, but as it's an opioid it makes her very drowsy so again not ideal that she had to sit in a wheelchair for 9 hours.

Response from Alan Martin, Clinical Development Manager, National Operations, Scottish Ambulance Service 8 months ago
Alan Martin
Clinical Development Manager, National Operations,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 15/10/2024 at 11:21
Published on Care Opinion at 11:21

picture of Alan Martin

Dear Dib50,

Many thanks for taking the time to share your feedback here on CareOpinion. I am so sorry to read about what happened to your mum and I do hope that she is feeling better. I am very sorry that the response from the Service was 7 hours, I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been for your mother and her family watching.

If you wish, we can look into the dispatch of resource to you although I am aware that response times within your region have been prolonged due mainly to hospital turnaround times and system challenges and if the GP did not request an emergency response but an urgent response then these are taking longer than we would like. But we will be happy to review it all and if there is any learning we will certainly take it on board. To do so we would need to know the date, time and address that the Ambulance attended and your mothers name. This information can be sent to sas.feedback@nhs.scot for the team to pick up and they will acknowledge with a consent form that your mother can sign. If you do decide to do this, would you be so kind as to make reference to your CareOpinion username so that the team can easily locate your story.

I wish you and you mother all the very best and please pass on my sincerest apologies.

Kind Regards

Alan

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