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No waiting area and the area was chaotic with no privacy

Posted By cetusty59

"No waiting area and the area was chaotic with no privacy"

About: Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick children / Out patients

(as a service user),

Immersive Reader

My daughter had been discharged from hospital and we had a follow up appointment for PTU for an outpatient medical review for my daughter.

Overwhelmingly busy place with very little space and no waiting room so we had to stand the whole time in an open ward where other people being treated had little privacy, including ourselves. I think this is terrible treatment. Children should also be entitled to their privacy and respect when being reviewed and treated.

My daughter became very distressed at hearing other children crying and screaming. We did complain on the day and the staff were very apologetic to us. They did try their best to get through us all as quickly as they could while being pulled in every direction. But we just feel there should be a better area for privacy and waiting where kids are not subjected to such things. 

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Responses

Response from Patricia McKinney, Interim Co-Director Child Health and NISTAR, SPECIALIST HOSPITALS & WOMEN'S HEALTH, Belfast HSC Trust 6 months ago
Patricia McKinney
Interim Co-Director Child Health and NISTAR, SPECIALIST HOSPITALS & WOMEN'S HEALTH,
Belfast HSC Trust

Submitted on 19/02/2025 at 15:03
Published on Care Opinion at 16:51

Immersive Reader

Dear cetusty59,

My name is Trish McKinney & I am the Co-Director for Child Health & NISTAR with the responsibility for Children's hospital.

I am sorry for your poor experience within our PTU facility and recognise that the environment is small and quite limited in terms of waiting space.

I am however pleased to hear that our staff attempted to make you and your daughter as comfortable as they were able.

We don't have the space to expand our waiting area within the current footprint, however I, along side the Service Manager & staff will review if there is anything else that we can do to try to improve conditions and privacy for children and families waiting to been seen.

Once again, thank you for your feedback.

Best wishes

Trish

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