"long time to be seen"

Dear robinpj68

My name is John Kerr, an Emergency Nurse Practitioner (ENP) based in the Emergency Department (ED) a the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH). I shall be responding to your recent post on the care opinion platform on behalf of our department.

Firstly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to post a comment on the care opinion platform, in relation to a recent experience as a service user. I would like to remind you that all comments are important to us and reflect on how we as a department in performing.

I am sorry to read from your post, your experience was somewhat negative and fell short of what we would expect. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience and any perceived offence caused. Our staff are all trained professionals and are reminded regularly of the importance of relative and patient interactions.

Emergency Departments are under extreme pressures currently and unfortunately this can reflect on the waiting times accordingly. We do our best, I can assure you, to manage waiting times, however we have to work within the resources available to us, prioritising clinical need.

I would like to take this opportunity to make you aware of other community based services, that can assist and advise in treatment pathways, avoiding unnecessary attendances to the ED and associated delays and waits.

These services are:

your own GP surgery

Your Local pharmacist or

'phone 1st' 0300 020 6000 or text relay 0870 2405152

Finally, I hope this response finds both yourself and your sister well.

Kind regards

John Kerr

ENP SWAH