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Overall the care received was good

Posted By Toepain

"Overall the care received was good"

About: Woodend Hospital / Elective Orthopaedics

(as the patient),

After quite a long wait I was admitted for day case surgery this year and everything went smoothly. Staff at Woodend hospital were very helpful and kind.

On leaving hospital that night on crutches I was given a discharge form with note to say I would get pin removed from toe in 4 -6 weeks time and to see GP surgery for removal of stitches. Nothing was provided about after care of toe i.e could I get it wet once stitches came out? how often had it to be dressed?

I received an appointment for pin removal five weeks after surgery which was fine, this was then cancelled until several weeks later as surgeon was going to be away, Woodend hospital then phoned the day before the appointment to cancel this clinic appointment as well - again the surgeon was going to be away. I was given date for a further two weeks later.

I was not very happy as I was due to go on holiday, I called back to the orthopaedic department and spoke with a lady (not sure if receptionist or nurse) who was exceptionally helpful and arranged for me to attend the nurse led clinic at an earlier date, where the nurse had arranged for a different surgeon to remove the pin. THANK YOU very much for arranging this.

I am now back at work (with the NHS) and toe is fine, but I can't help feeling that more post operative information could be issued on aftercare of wound. And if a surgeon is going to miss clinics surely they could arrange for someone else to check patients. I was 9 weeks with pin in toe on crutches when I should only have been 5 weeks to first clinic appointment.

On saying overall the care received in hospital was very good it was afterwards that wasn't so good.

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Responses

Response from Linda Oldroyd, Chief Nurse for Surgery, NHS Grampian 4 years ago
Linda Oldroyd
Chief Nurse for Surgery,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 29/04/2019 at 11:17
Published on Care Opinion at 11:35

picture of Linda Oldroyd

Dear Toepain

Many thanks for taking the time to post your feedback on Care Opinion. We are very grateful for you kind comments about the general care that you received.

Thank you again for bringing your concerns to our attention. Ideally, all patients should be given some form of written information about wound care and other aftercare at the time of discharge from hospital. This will be reviewed by the Senior Charge Nurse for the ward.

I can totally understand your frustration at having the pin in longer than you were initially told. It must have been a great relief to have it removed prior to you going on holiday. I am glad that this was arranged for you.

I would urge any patient who faces unnecessary delays in care to contact the service. There may be nothing that we can do, but where we can we will certainly try. Clinics and outpatient appointments are sometimes changed due to last minute sickness, but any planned absence should be known and covered in advance. We are really sorry that you faced these delays.

Whilst we do well for most patients there is always room for improvement. We take your feedback on board and will seek to make changes which will improve the experience of patients in the future.

Thank you again for sharing your story. We hope you are continuing your recovery at home.

Kind regards,

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