Sadly, this month I had to contribute to activity stats and attend the ED on a Sunday afternoon, and then reattend Monday morning, due to a lot of pain in my foot. I tried to avoid the ED by going to the Minor injuries unit in the first instance, but due to a lack of imaging was sent to Wonford. In both cases, I was out in 3 hours, which is encouraging. however, despite a massive limp due to foot pain, no one offered to help, and I had to ask for crutches on the second day.
A few pieces of feedback for consideration in the spirit of improvement:
•No imaging in minor injuries unit is an oversight
•ED access /design:
oThe reception desks are far from the door if you have an injury to your legs and are alone.
oThat they point away from the door made them less obvious as to where to go as well.
o for other people: the paediatrics waiting area being separated and seemingly without staff in it was causing confusion for parents and children. The teenagers were bemused to being sent to the paediatrics area as well.
oThe two triage rooms was a serious bottleneck even at low volumes. A third room to the left when sitting was being used, but the member of staff there was constantly having to cross the waiting area to do something else (taking up their valuable time).
oSigns stated that wait times couldn’t be given, but even some indications of estimated time could help to set expectations.
•Only the radiographer introduced themselves to me on Sunday.
•After getting x-ray I was asked to return to the doctor’s room, which was then empty meaning I was alone in the clinical area and not challenged / helped back to patient side.
•I had to reattend on a Monday as the pain increased markedly, and ED team said to come back in as no imaging at MIU.
oI was sent to the ENPs (being called forward en masse, with no explanation of where we were going).
oAll people introduced themselves during this part.
"A&E attendance"
About: Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) / Accident and emergency Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital (Wonford) Accident and emergency Exeter EX2 5DW Sidwell Street Clinic / NHS Walk-in Centre Sidwell Street Clinic NHS Walk-in Centre Exeter EX4 6NN
Posted by aardwolf (as ),
Responses
See more responses from Tamara Martin Garcia