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"Constant high pitched beeping"

About: Wythenshawe Hospital / Accident and emergency

(as a service user),

I came to A and E at Wythenshawe with a suspected asthma attack. After half an hour I asked at reception if they could turn off the high pitched alarm by the main entrance that was beeping constantly every second (literally). It could be heard all over the waiting room.

The receptionist said it does that and smiled. I asked if it was meant to do that (it says ‘fault in zone 2’ on the display) and they said it’s the fire alarm box so it’s meant to do that. This continued for the 3 1/2 hours I spent in A and E.

This constant high pitched loud beeping was incredibly annoying, and I imagine it would be even worse for people with sensitive hearing or who were experiencing greater physical or mental distress than I was that day. This can’t be normal - if it is then this is a shocking design feature to have a constant high pitched beeping in a waiting room!

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Responses

Response from Wythenshawe Hospital 5 years ago
Wythenshawe Hospital
Submitted on 07/01/2020 at 16:35
Published on nhs.uk on 08/01/2020 at 09:53


We are very sorry to receive your feedback via the NHS website about your experience in the Emergency Department at Wythenshawe Hospital. Unfortunately the high pitched noise coming from the alarm box was confirmed to be a fault and the duty managers contacted the engineer to review and fix the issue. We are sorry that this took longer than expected and caused you distress and discomfort during your wait in the Emergency Department.

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