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I did not know any more than when I arrived

Posted By Renny

"I did not know any more than when I arrived"

About: Pilgrim Hospital / Acute Medical Unit

(as the patient),

I was admitted to Pilgrim Hospital. No problem at all with the treatment by the ambulance crew and the a & e department. I was given loads of tests and was monitored all the time until I was moved onto the acute medical unit at about 11 am.

I was left in a side room with a bed with no sheets or covers. I had been sat since 1. 30am on trollies and beds without any sleep. It took until nearly 5 pm before a single sheet was brought and then my daughter had to finish putting it on the bed as the nurse went off somewhere and never came back.

Other than the nurses who came to take my blood pressure and blood tests I saw no-one else until a Doctor came for an assessment about 6pm. Then a nurse came to do another blood test and said the results would take about 90 minutes. They came back about an 45 minutes later to say they had to send another sample as the lab had not got enough blood but had not let them now this.

The result came back as negative which meant that it was not a blood clot and we were told that a Doctor would come and explain. About 9pm a Doctor arrived with in my opinion, no bedside manner whatsover  said I was discharged. I asked if I needed any treatment or to come back for more tests and was told if the pain came back to ring 999 again.

So I had been 20 hours and did not know any more than when I arrived. Lets hope that someone else that is having a major heart attack is not sent to the AMU or put in a queue at A & E behind drunken people with police in attendance trying to arrest them and this went on for an hour.

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Responses

Response from United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust 6 years ago
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 07/07/2017 at 13:27
Published on Care Opinion at 14:42

Dear Renny

Thank you for your recent story on our care opinion website, regarding your care whilst on the acute medical unit. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us.

We would like to say how extremely sorry we are that you have had cause to complain and were let down whilst in our care. We assure you that this is not the level of service we wish for our patients.

AMU is a very busy assessment unit which has a very high flow of patients, often having up to 3-4 patients in the same bed per day. Our nursing staff always work hard to ensure our beds and bed areas are prepared ready for new patients. I am sorry that when you arrived this wasn’t the case and your bed was not ready for you, we clearly let you down on this occasion.

The doctors on the unit are responsible for assessing and reviewing all new patients that arrive onto the unit but at any given time can have ten or more patients to see. Our doctors therefore have to prioritise the order in which they see patients which can sometimes result in a delay in being seen.

We are very sorry that you had to wait a considerable length of time and this should have been explained to you and you should have been kept informed, I’m sorry that you were not.

You stated that you had a blood test taken to exclude a blood clot and the sample taken was insufficient. The blood sciences department failed to relay this information to the ward, which then resulted in further delays whilst waiting for the results. You highlighted that you didn’t know what the doctors thought was wrong but have explained that they wanted to exclude a blood clot. We are very sorry that the doctors bedside manner was not professional and you felt very let down.

Your story highlights that the area we failed in was with communication and keeping you informed during your patient journey. It is hard to express how truly sorry we are and we would like to reassure you that your experience has been shared within our team.

Genuinely listening to our patient experiences of care is extremely important to us and learning from where we could have done better is a corner stone to our journey for continuous improvement.

I hope that you can see we have taken your concerns seriously and I would like to once again like to apologise for your experience and reassure you that your concerns have been taken on board and we have learnt from them.

Please don’t hesitate to contact myself if you have any further queries or concerns on 01205 445995/01205 445983

Kindest regards

Tina Schofield, Deputy Sister

Acute Medical Unit, Pilgrim Hospital

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