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Care Opinion

Admission to hospital following a TIA

Posted By Sometimes known as Nuke

"Admission to hospital following a TIA"

About: Crosshouse Hospital / Combined Assessment Unit (CAU) Crosshouse Hospital / Stroke Care

(as the patient),

Having experienced a TIA once before I didn't use the emergency services but consulted my GP who insisted that I go to hospital for a full assessment.  The GP phoned ahead to expedite my admittance.  This worked well and I only spent a reasonable time in the waiting room.  The assessment unit was efficient and I was told that I would be admitted to the 'stroke ward' 3E.  There followed a three hour wait until a bed became available.  I would have appreciated some indication of the average wait I might be facing if that was possible.

Absolutely nothing adverse to say about the ward staff.  Quite the opposite.  Nurses, auxiliaries, caterers, cleaners, porters were all excellent.  (Oh!  Please tell the porters not to leave patients in wheelchairs facing a blank wall or an empty corridor whilst awaiting scans, X-rays etc.)  The day following admittance I was told that I could return home.  I just had to wait for the pharmacy to deliver medication to the ward.  The medication arrived and the nurse explained the paperwork.

It is significant that the time lapse between being told that I could leave and the arrival of the medication was three hours. I couldn't help but wonder if there was a patient sitting in the assessment unit awaiting the availability of my bed.

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Responses

Response from Christine Somerville, Senior Charge Nurse, Ward 3E/F - Acute Stroke Unit, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 4 years ago
Christine Somerville
Senior Charge Nurse, Ward 3E/F - Acute Stroke Unit,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

Submitted on 03/12/2019 at 14:41
Published on Care Opinion at 14:41

Dear Sometimes known as Nuke,

Thank you for taking the time to give us an insight in to your experience as a patient. Your feedback will allow us to make changes to improve your experience.

The hospital has been under significant pressure for beds and I am sorry you had to wait for 3 hours before getting a bed in the stroke unit. This would have been a really worrying time for you. I will copy your feedback to Linda Robertson Clinical Nurse Manager for CAU who will be able to advise if there is anything else that could have been done differently.

I am delighted to read you found all the team in the stroke unit to be excellent. This is so important for patients. I am going to ask the porter manager to look at your feedback and ensure your comments are taken forward. This is not what we would hope would occur and we will certainly look at this moving forward.

It is good to hear you were able to go home the next day. I am sorry though you had a further wait for your prescription. Please be assured if we needed your bed we would have transferred you to the Discharge Lounge or in to our waiting area to wait for your medication. Once all investigations are completed and the team have deemed you medically fit for home we would normally transfer you to the Discharge Lounge. The Lounge is not opened 7 days a week therefore it may have been outwith their times.

Your feedback will allow us to look at some changes as a team and very much ppreciate you taking the time to post your comments.

I hope you are now on the road to recovery.

Best Wishes

Christine

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