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my mum and her care or lack of care

Posted By jessamine

"my mum and her care or lack of care"

About: Borders General Hospital / Accident & Emergency Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance

(as a service user),

Found my mum on the floor at her home where she had been all night ,given the fact she had severe bruising to her head down her neck and swelling and severe bruising across the base of her back and slightly confused ,I called an ambulance who assessed her ,taking her to the toilet which she could hardly walk .

Up to this time mum had lived independently with no mobility issues . The ambulance crew took notice of bruising and swelling and decided to take her to bgh. I stayed behind to collect medication and essentials, then rushing to hospital.

Mum sat in casualty for near 4 hours. noting my mum was becoming more unwell I felt I had to bring up my concerns with staff. Mum at no time had a collar fitted .eventually mum was taken for scans to find she had a broken neck, broken pelvis and bleed to her brain and this was a 78 year old woman who had sat for hours in a wheelchair for hours without any care. That had included fluids all day.

From then on my mums stay in the bgh was a nightmare to be honest if I was to tell the story of her total care I would need to go on forever. I myself don't keep good health and have nightmares about having to have any time in that hospital but I feel myself there could be other reasons why at times I have been treated badly at the bgh.

I would like to meet with someone from the complaints department to discuss everything, mum passed away so I am dealing with that at the moment. And given the covid 19 I am shielded until mid july. and im sure the hospital has lots of work at this time but when the time is right I would appreciate some time to go through the complete disaster we as a family suffered

  

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Responses

Response from Susan Cowe, Quality Improvement Facilitator - Person Centred Care, NHS Borders 3 years ago
Susan Cowe
Quality Improvement Facilitator - Person Centred Care,
NHS Borders

Submitted on 05/06/2020 at 16:14
Published on Care Opinion on 08/06/2020 at 15:50

Dear Jessamine, I am sorry to hear that your mum passed away and thank you for sharing the experience you and your mother had, even though it was very difficult to read. We always aim to provide very good care, and we did not achieve this for your mother or for you, for which we are truly sorry. We would be keen to meet with you to hear more of what happened whenever you feel ready to do so. You may have some concerns about a meeting if you are still shielding and we can talk through the various ways we can do meet to keep you safe too. I am the lead for NHS Borders Patient Experience Team and when you are ready to talk you can contact me on either on 01896 826714 or by email: patient.experience@borders.scot.nhs.uk.

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Response from Alan Martin, Patient Experience Manager, Corporate Affairs and Engagement, Scottish Ambulance Service 3 years ago
Alan Martin
Patient Experience Manager, Corporate Affairs and Engagement,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 05/06/2020 at 16:43
Published on Care Opinion on 08/06/2020 at 15:50

picture of Alan Martin

Dear Jessamine

Thank you for taking time to share your feedback on CareOpinion.

Firstly I am very sorry to hear about the sad loss of your mother. Please accept my sincerest condolences during this difficult time. I am also sorry to hear about how you experience has been, I cannot imagine how you must be feeling right now.

I would be more than happy to facilitate a meeting for you with local management whenever the time is right in terms of your own situation and of course with respect to when lockdown allows. If you would be so kind as to email me whenever you are ready at alan.martin2@nhs.net and we can begin communication. When you do email if you could reference your CareOpinion username I would be very grateful so I can quickly refer back to this page.

I hope that you stay safe while you are shielding and I hope to speak to you soon.


Kind Regards

Alan

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Response from Lynn McCallum, Medical Director, NHS Borders 3 years ago
Lynn McCallum
Medical Director,
NHS Borders

Along with the Director of Nursing, we are collectively responsible for the clinical care delivered within NHS Borders.

Submitted on 05/06/2020 at 17:12
Published on Care Opinion on 08/06/2020 at 15:50

picture of Lynn McCallum

Dear Jessamine,

Your story is heartbreaking and on behalf of us all here, I am sorry for what you and your mother experienced. As Susan has said above, we would be very keen to hear more about your mother's care and your experiences as a family so that we can learn from these and try to ensure that any required changes are implemented. I understand that it is incredibly difficult at this time to come into a hospital setting but we could arrange an alternative for example, a video discussion or telephone discussion in order to keep you as safe as possible. Alternatively we could arrange something for when the shielding advice is lifted, although I accept that the time frame for this is entirely unknown currently.

I am so grateful to you for taking the time to raise these concerns, especially at such a difficult time following your mother's death. At NHS Borders, we are committed to listening to our patients and relatives and to learning from their experiences, both good and bad. Within your own time and if you feel able, please do contact the Patient Experience Team and we can see what we can arrange to try to ensure appropriate learning from your mother's care.

Best wishes,

Lynn

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