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Care Opinion

Bedside manner

Posted By cheetahfp53

"Bedside manner"

About: St Mary's Hospital (Newport)

(as a service user),

For three days I was an in patient for an Ascitic Drain, the extended time was due to difficulty in fitting a cannula. On the second day I moved to Appley ward where a particular nurse had a go. I don't remember the exact time.

This nurse arrived at the bedside and just grabbed my hand, squeezing it quite painfully and proceeded to twist and bend the wrist even when I pointed I would happily move it as instructed without it being squeezed and twisted if I was just asked.

I have had many cannula fitted due to repeated drains without this forced manipulation, in fact many of the staff joke about my lack of flinch as they try.

The nurse referred to had zero bedside manner to relax me as a patient. It  seemed that they considered themselves the 'professional' in this situation and so their decisions and actions are final.

I believe this staff member needs serious retraining in attitude and how to interact with patients; and even more importantly taught from scratch to have a bedside manner to relax patients not to increase their stress level in a difficult situation.

In contrast the following day the equivalent Nurse was a breath of wonderful fresh air, carrying out the somewhat repetitive tasks of the drain with a smile and cheerful bedside manner, just what you would expect a nurse to be. Every time they had to enter the ward, and no doubt in between time, they would check the drain bag ready to empty as required. I would like a commendation put on their file in thanks.

I have not stated names, partly as I am atrocious at remembering names, and partly as I dislike making a complaint personal.

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Responses

Response from Vanessa Flower, Head of Patient Experience, Isle of Wight NHS Trust 5 years ago
Vanessa Flower
Head of Patient Experience,
Isle of Wight NHS Trust

Submitted on 20/09/2018 at 19:29
Published on Care Opinion on 21/09/2018 at 13:46

picture of Vanessa Flower

Dear cheetahfp53

Thank you for posting this valuable feedback, which I have shared with both the Ward Matron and Head of Nursing. They would like to join me in sending sincere apologies that you had this experience with one of our nurses.

This is certainly not the behaviour we expect from a member of our staff. I appreciate that you did not want to make the complaint personal, but we would like to investigate this further and ensure that the nurse in question is spoken to, and gets the re-training they need to ensure that other patients do not have the poor experience that you received.

If you would like to speak to the Matron directly so that she can take appropriate action, the Patient Experience Team can put you in contact with her, they can be contacted via email on PatientExperience@iow.nhs.uk or via phone on 01983 534420.

Alternatively if you are able to provide us with the date that this incident occurred, it will help us to undertake some investigations.

Thank you also for your positive feedback regarding the other staff nurse; I would like to assure you, your feedback will be shared with the team to ensure lessons are learnt.

Once again sincere apologise for this poor patient experience, and I hope that you are now recovering well following your admission.

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