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Care Opinion

Recent admission via a&e

Posted By The Volcanoman

"Recent admission via a&e"

About: Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske) / Emergency Department South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust / Emergency ambulance

(as the patient),

I recently developed pain in my chest, called for an ambulance,was taken to TreliskeHospital, Truro, Cornwall. Tests etc; all carried out. A second blood test, x-ray etc were OK. I was expecting to go home!

Imagine the shock, anger etc; I felt when I was informed that they were taking me to the AMU! I felt as if I was being kidnapped.

Lets say I was not happy, and said so. I was advised I could discharge myself, a nurse talked to me and advised me I should stay. Eventually I agreed, as I realised leaving meant if problems arose another 999 call would ensue, an ambulance possibly diverted from an emergency elsewhere would have to attend me at ??3am, plus my partner needed me but she needed me in reasonably good health as she has recently had a pacemaker implanted! Stay and be observed, anything untoward happened help was seconds away not about an hour!

My point is IF I had been advised much earlier "They will probably keep you in overnight for obs" I would have had time to get used to that; as it was it came as a bolt out of the blue!

That is my one and only moan. To all at A&E, AMU, at Treliske involved in my care - "Thank you!"

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Responses

Response from Jane Michell, Complaints Manager, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust 5 years ago
Jane Michell
Complaints Manager,
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 15/03/2019 at 20:18
Published on Care Opinion on 18/03/2019 at 11:34

Dear 'The Volcanoman',

My name is Jane and I am the Matron for Emergency Care.

Thank you for your comments regarding your experience in the Emergency Department. I am sorry that you were completely unprepared for the decision that you were to be admitted. There are many causes for patients presenting with chest pain, some not so serious but often patients may need further investigations to rule out more serious causes. This cannot be predicted unfortunately.

The expectation that you were just going to hospital to be checked out and then go home is perfectly normal. However as you found out, this is not always the case, and I appreciate that this came as a shock to you at the time.

However, I am glad that you realised the importance of staying to be investigated further and as you rightly say it is important to be in good health. On reflection, I think that perhaps if you were informed of your treatment plan and the potential consequences right at the start of your journey, this would have saved a lot of distress, and I can only apologise that this didn't happen.

On a more positive note, I am glad that you were happy with your care and treatment in the Emergency Department and AMU and hope that you are well on the road to recovery.


Kind Regards

Jane

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Update posted by The Volcanoman (the patient)

Dear Jane, Thank you for your reply. I appreciate too taking time to respond.

I fully understand and in some respects I should myself have been prepared to be kept in overnight.

Once again, Thank to all your staff and those in AMU who looked after me.

Response from Sharifa Hashem, Patient Engagement Manager, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust 5 years ago
Sharifa Hashem
Patient Engagement Manager,
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 20/03/2019 at 14:56
Published on Care Opinion at 16:23

Dear The Volcanoman,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and I'm sorry to hear about the confusion of the some of the experience you have had, although I am glad to hear that you were taken care of by all staff involved.

The detail you have provided here has been anonymised so I am unable to locate the details of your call and I cannot directly comment on the event.

However, we would welcome the opportunity to look into the care provided to you; if you would like us to do this may I ask you to contact our Patient Experience Team on 01392 261 585 and a member of the team will be able to provide information on the next steps.

Thank you, again, for taking the time to share your story with us.

Kind regards,

Sharifa

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