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Daughter’s Dental Care

Posted By deltagt33

"Daughter’s Dental Care"

About: Royal Hospital for Children (Glasgow) / Dental

(as a parent/guardian),

My Daughter had fallen and knocked her top front tooth resulting in it being discoloured. Last year she developed a dental abscess. We called NHS 24 around Christmas 2018 and was given self care advice and told to see own Dentist the next day which we did. Our own dentist was great, he gave a course of antibiotics and told we would be urgently referred to the dental hospital.  

Throughout the year, my daughter has been plagued with recurring abscess resulting in more trips to the dentist and more antibiotics. We were told that there was a problem with the initial referral because of a change in IT systems. We were eventually seen in May 2019 and told that she would need to go to the Royal Hospital for Children for the operation. We then received a call from the RHC advising that there was a waiting list and that it would be Oct before we would be seen, however we were not seen until January - over a year from when she had the first abscess. 

Most of the staff within the RHC were fantastic taking time to explain things and make my daughter feel at ease.  Given the publicity around infection control at the RHC I was disappointed in the general cleanliness of the place and attitudes of staff towards Infection Control procedures.

One member of staff in particular, the HCSW was clearly unwell with a runny nose, cough and hot flushes. She was witnessed to take out a used hanky from her pocket which she used and put back. She would also go from patient to patient without performing any form of hand hygiene. During recover, I also found her to be quite rude and at one point I felt like she physically man handled my daughter when she was coming round from the anaesthetic.

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Responses

Response from Jennifer Rodgers, Deputy Nurse Director for Corporate and Community, Corporate Nursing, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 4 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Jennifer Rodgers
Deputy Nurse Director for Corporate and Community, Corporate Nursing,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Submitted on 16/01/2020 at 11:04
Published on Care Opinion at 11:04

picture of Jennifer Rodgers

Dear deltagt33,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on Care Opinion.

I am sorry to hear that your daughter has had a difficult time over the last year with the recurring abscess and attending a number of appointments to access treatment for these. I know from experience how miserable dental pain can be particularly for young children.

Thank you for your kind comments on the level of care and support you and your daughter received from many of the staff who looked after you during your time in the Royal Hospital for Children. I am, however, disappointed that there were aspects of the care your daughter received which significantly falls short of what we aim to deliver and that you should have received. I acknowledge this and I am very sorry that this was the case.

In response to the issues you have raised I have invited the Infection Control Team to provide focused support and education to the team in this department, and alongside senior members of the Nursing Team, to further reinforce and monitor required standards of infection control. I have also asked that the Lead Nurse share your feedback with the team and they use this as a valuable opportunity to reflect and ensure that safe and compassionate care is provided for all patients and families at all times throughout their stay.

I would be more than happy to discuss your concerns with you directly either over the phone or in person. If this would be helpful to you please contact my colleague pamela.mcgoldrick@ggc.scot.nhs.uk (quoting Ref. No..730157 ) who will assist in setting this up.

I hope your daughter is doing well and is back home recovering from her surgery.

Many thanks

Jen

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Response from Jackie Wilson, Clinical Services Manager, Glasgow Dental Hospital, NHSGGC 4 years ago
We have made a change
Jackie Wilson
Clinical Services Manager, Glasgow Dental Hospital,
NHSGGC

Submitted on 17/01/2020 at 12:52
Published on Care Opinion at 14:30

Dear deltagt33,


I see Jen has already responded but on behalf of the Dental Service I wanted to offer my sincere apologies to you and your daughter for the delay in providing dental treatment.

Regrettably the Dental Service for children who require a general anaesthetic to have a tooth removed has been experiencing extended waiting times. There are a number of factors which are impacting on our ability to meet the national waiting times guarantee.

I would wish to assure you that we are making every effort to reduce the waiting times for our patients and improve the service that we provide. Recently we have been reviewing how we are able to offer alternative treatments for dental pain which has shown a reduction in the numbers of children who require treatment with a general anaesthetic. We expect by continuing with this work that we can reduce the overall waiting times for children. If you would wish to discuss your daughters waiting time for dental treatment please do not hesitate to contact me either by phone on 0141 232 6303 or by email at

Jackie.Wilson@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

I also hope your daughter has made a good recovery following her surgery.

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