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Severe pain during colonoscopy

Posted By Seriously concerned

"Severe pain during colonoscopy "

About: Derriford Hospital

(as the patient),

I too suffered severe pain and discomfort during colonoscopy at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. I choose to have Entonox, but it was absolutely useless at reducing pain. Despite voicing my distress the endoscopist carried on with the procedure. I have made an official complaint to the Trust, but their response does nothing to make me feel that they care about the incident or patient care. Senior people have shown no interest in my case, or bothered to contact me, despite being copied in to my emails and complaint.

The pain and suffering I suffered at the hands of Derriford Hospital was shocking. Their response to my complaint is extremely worrying.

Derriford Hospital has a long way to go to show that it cares about its patients and their treatment.

My follow-up to this procedure will be done at a top class hospital in London. I have refused to return to Derriford.

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Responses

Response from Genny Turner, Senior Quality Facilitator, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust 9 years ago
Genny Turner
Senior Quality Facilitator,
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 14/07/2014 at 15:13
Published on Care Opinion at 15:15

Dear Seriously Concerned,

I am sorry to hear that you suffered severe pain and discomfort during your procedure. Please can I reassure you that we are taking your feedback very seriously and I would appreciate it if you would be kind enough to contact PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) on 01752 439884 to discuss this further. The team are in touch with our Complaints Dept and hope to be able to discuss this matter with them and with you.

Best wishes

Genny

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Update posted by Seriously concerned (the patient)

Dear Genny

Thank you for your swift response. I note how fast PHNHST responds to patient concerns on social media sites such as Patient Opinion, and how extremely slow it replies to concerns and complaints when patients write directly to the hospital. It would be preferable if senior staff at PHNHST spent less time tweeting “good news” and more time and effort on focussing on, responding to, learning from, and acting on, patient concerns and complaints.

I wrote to the Chairman and Chief Executive of PHNHST several times between January and July, but not once did they personally reply to my concerns.

In view of my appalling patient experience, from the very start of my referral to Derriford Hospital, it’s longstanding inability to achieve Foundation Trust status, and it’s red rating for compliance with CQC standards, as shown on the NHS Choices website; I can have no confidence whatsoever in the safety and quality of services at PHNHST. I fear for my life should I ever have the misfortune to end up as a patient at Derriford as an emergency admission. I will certainly not be choosing to attend Derriford for any further elective appointments/treatment.

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