"Cannula not correctly sited."

Thank you for taking the time to leave us some feedback about your recent visit to the Emergency Department at Eastbourne District General Hospital; we do appreciate it. First and foremost, we very much hope you are feeling much better and that the symptoms you presented to hospital with have been treated. The Trust works hard to provide all patients with a high standard of care, and we are therefore disappointed and very sorry to read this was not your experience. Please accept our apologies for any distress caused as this was not our intention.

As you will appreciate Emergency Departments will, at peak times, be exceptionally busy and both patient volume and flow will fluctuate in accordance with the nature of the illness or injury patients present with. Given this, we strive to minimise how long patients have to be in the Emergency Department for, and can only apologise if you feel you were detained for longer than anticipated. It is also very concerning to read that you report your cannula was not correctly sited and staff did not check the flow, nor were you given an allergy bracelet if staff were aware of your allergies from your medical records or self-disclosure, and that you were not given a blanket when you felt cold. These are not the experiences we would want a patient to have, and if you would like to discuss your care in more detail so that we can learn more and speak to staff to find out what happened, then do get in touch with our Patient Advice and Liaison Service at esh-tr.palse@nhs.net where the team will be very happy to speak to you.

In the meantime, we will share your comments with the senior clinical and management team responsible for our Emergency Department’s so they can be aware of your experience of care.

We hope to hear from you in due course so that we can see if there is any learning we need to implement following your recent attendance at hospital, and wish you all the very best for good health going forward.