"My Care gets more attention than I do!"

This week I was a day surgery patient at the RD&E and I witnessed nurses, doctors, and theatre staff frustrated and exasperated by the new online My Care system. This had a great impact on my personal experience which resulted in me feeling more like an inconvenience than a patient. Every person I met, including the consultant, seemed more focused on completing the demands of My Care than engaging and communicating with me as a patient. 

Medical staff congregated in corridors around monitors which created access pinch points. These pinch points made wheelchair movement difficult and COVID-19 social distancing impossible.

Normal nursing care and empathy was noticeably absent. In fact very little attention was given to me. So much so that during my seven hour stay I was not even offered a glass of water. My Care was clearly needing much more attention than me. I was not given any post operative advice, verbally or in writing upon discharge. 

I have experienced other surgeries in my life and this was the first time I ever felt unsafe, uncared for and ‘processed’ in a hospital ward. 

I am not a Luddite and recognise that change and systems have to be updated for the benefit of all. However ‘patient care’ needs to be maintained as a priority ahead of ‘My Care’. At this moment in time patients already have additional COVID-19 anxieties. They do not need to be concerned that they are not getting the full attention of the medical teams.