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Carer for Aspergers Son

Posted By hekakw65

"Carer for Aspergers Son"

About: Northern Ireland Ambulance Service / Emergency ambulance response Royal Victoria Hospital / Accident & Emergency

(as a relative),

On Saturday evening past my son who has a diagnosis of aspegers was out for a meal in Belfast. He has a peanut allergy and did not realise the chips that he ordered had been cooked in peanut oil. After eating the chips he felt sick,he left the restaurant alone and called me. I should also add at this point he suffers from high levels of anxiety and depression. During my call with him I advised him to inject himself with the EpiPen and call an ambulance.I live 30 miles south of Belfast so I contacted my daughter and her partner who live in Belfast and they were able to go to where he was. My daughters partner explained to the paramedic that my son had aspergers and that he should have someone with him as he travelled to the hospital. As you can appreciate for someone with Aspergers this was a frightening experience.He was told by the paramedic that no one would be allowed to go to the hospital with him due to COVID 19.

My son spent the night in the hospital on his own,the battery on his phone was getting low so that was adding more stress to the situation. As am sure you can imagine this also caused considerable stress to myself and my husband. Can you please confirm if the correct procedures were followed in this situation as I believe he should have been allowed to have someone with him as he travelled to the hospital and it should have been communicated to me that as his carer I should have been allowed to stay with him while he was in hospital. I would like to add that he received good care in the hospital.I await your reply. Many Thanks

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Responses

Response from Claire Edgar, Patient Experience Facilitator, Northern Ireland Ambulance Service 3 years ago
Claire Edgar
Patient Experience Facilitator,
Northern Ireland Ambulance Service

Submitted on 25/09/2020 at 17:32
Published on Care Opinion on 28/09/2020 at 10:31

picture of Claire Edgar

Dear hekakw65

Thank you for taking the time to reach out and tell your story and I'm sorry for any anxiousness experienced by your son, yourself and your family.

To be so far from him, as a mother must have been very difficult and then the added worries of him travelling alone I imagine just added to these feelings.

I've reached out to my colleagues who are better situated in discussing NIAS processes and policies and the adjustments that have been made during COVID and we will reach out again when we have some more information for you.

If, however, you prefer to communicate directly please email me via careopinion.admin@nisa.hscni.net or if you want to talk to me directly I'm available Monday to Friday 09.00 - 17.00 hours on 07867 136 597.

Sincere regards

Claire Edgar

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Response from Linsey Sheerin, Divisional Nurse, Urgent and Emergency Care, Emergency Care, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust 3 years ago
Linsey Sheerin
Divisional Nurse, Urgent and Emergency Care, Emergency Care,
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 28/09/2020 at 11:53
Published on Care Opinion at 12:19

Dear hekakw65,

My name is Linsey Sheerin, I am the Service Manager of the Emergency Department (ED) at the Royal Victoria Hospital. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and in an attempt to reduce the risk of spread of infection, we have asked that if you need to attend the ED to attend alone or with one adult when absolutely necessary. We recognise that this can cause added stress to patients and their families and staff in the department are working tirelessly to improve communication for those patients who attend alone. This includes the use of an ipad to allow "Facetime", I am sincerely sorry that this was not offered to your son.

The Department of Health (DoH) has recently published revised guidance "COVID-19: Regional Principles for visiting in care settings in Northern Ireland" that now states "One person only to accompany the patient where the patient is unable to understand or communicate with staff".

Despite this stressful time, thank you for your lovely comments regarding the care your son received while in hospital, I hope he is making good progress in his recovery.

Linsey

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