"Terrible and great service all in one...."

In July 2020 I took my father into Manchester royal infirmary on the back of a phone call from his GP.

I was greeted by a SCN at the ED door who was extremely abrupt, and as I tried to explain to the receptionist that my dad needed me to be with him for his triage due to being very groggy and not alert it would be unsafe for me to leave him alone as he couldn’t explain his symptoms.

The SCN from the main entrance stormed to the reception and actually made physical contact (gave me a mask when I came in but doesn’t think much of physical distancing) and told the reception that I had to leave my dad..... after 10 minutes then came over to tell me I could be accompanied there and took us through to assessment room 7. The nurses in the room and the consultant couldn’t have been nicer in fact they were incredible... but the SCN on the main door who is the face of your hospital made my initial impression horrendous.

Later in the evening I tried 3 times to call your main switchboard so I could get through to his ward to which they put me through to the wrong numbers and also extremely abrupt.... I think your ward staff are amazing but in my opinion you need to invest greatly in training for front facing staff such as reception and SCN on the door to ensure the wider experience and initial impressions improve. I work in a hospital in Scotland and in comparison MRI lacks basic HAI cleaning standards and there was only 1 gel dispenser in reception and no WHO step by step hand washing posters in your toilets or above hand wash basins.