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Overall good service, but communication sometimes...

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"Overall good service, but communication sometimes..."

About: Leicester Royal Infirmary

My dad entered A&E yesterday and my Mum spent a few hours in the same department a few weeks ago. Two common factors, some doctors could not communicate properly and asked questions which needed to be phrased clearly. eg. instead of 'What time do you have this condition' , should have asked 'How long have you had this condition'. Another doctor asked 'What ear is it? instead of 'What year is it?'. Not great when patient is already traumatised from their injury. Secondly, the patients are not cleaned up until the end. If they are refreshed they could be made to feel a bit better. Otherwise all staff are pleasant and the end treatment is very good.

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Responses

Response from Leicester Royal Infirmary 9 years ago
Leicester Royal Infirmary

Submitted on 28/08/2014 at 12:46
Published on nhs.uk on 14/09/2014 at 10:21

Dear reviewer, Thank you for your kind feedback and positive suggestions. My apologies for the delay in replying. I am glad to hear the overall treatment for both your parents was good. I hope they are recovering well. With respect to the language issues you've mentioned, you're absolutely right. It can be difficult for ill and /or elderly patients to understand doctors whose first language is not English. As you are probably aware, there is a huge shortage of emergency department doctors across the UK, and Leicester is no different. We have however taken strong initiates in recruiting doctors from Europe and beyond. One of my consultant colleagues leads on this recruitment personally and we have a training program in place as well. The interview includes assessing communicating in English though we make some allowance as English skills generally improve quickly once living in the UK. Thank you as well for your suggestion of cleaning patients earlier in their ED visit. I will share this with our Matrons to see what we can do. Thank you once again for taking the time to write. Best wishes, Pro Mukherjee Consultant in Emergency Medicine

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