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Care Opinion

Poor care in A and E

Posted By Angry family

"Poor care in A and E"

About: NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service) University Hospital Ayr / Accident & Emergency

(as a service user),

I took my 4 year old daughter to emergency room with chemical burns in both eyes from washing pod this was after unsuccessfully try to get through to NHS 24 for advice. When we looked up what do the information we read said this needed urgent medical attention so despite being very late midnight we went to nearest emergency room only to be left sitting in freezing waiting area for over 2 hours to be told expect another 2 hours 50 min before she could be assessed this to me only showed that this was not a medical emergency as they felt safe leave my young daughter for several hours. I decided would not wait and made decision to take her home and seek medical treatment next morning at local hospital 

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Responses

Response from Shona Lawrence, Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care, NHS 24 2 years ago
Shona Lawrence
Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care,
NHS 24

Submitted on 19/07/2021 at 11:35
Published on Care Opinion at 11:35

picture of Shona Lawrence

Dear Angry Family

I'm so sorry to learn about your four year old daughter's injury to her eyes. It sounds as though this was an extremely distressing situation for you all. I hope she is doing much better and that you are all taking time to recover from your ordeal.

I'm sorry you were unsuccessful in getting through to us here at NHS 24. I appreciate this would have been hugely frustrating given your concern for your little girl and I can absolutely understand why you would then attend directly at A&E, especially after checking the symptoms online.

Here at NHS 24, we have been managing an increase in calls to our 111 service. We are working extremely hard to try to ensure that callers are not waiting too long for their calls to be answered, however unfortunately, there are times when the wait time is longer than we would like. We are aware this is not a good experience for patients and callers and I am sorry we were not able to assist when you needed our advice. I would like to offer you assurance that timely access to our service is one of our top priorities.

I see the Care Opinion Team have tagged your story to NHS Ayrshire & Arran who are best placed to respond regarding the wait times in A&E.

I hope your return visit to the hospital the following day was not too much of an ordeal for your wee one and for you.

Thanks again for sharing your experience. If you wish to contact me directly, please don't hesitate. You can get me on 07814 299944 or at Patient.Experience@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk

With best wishes to you all.

Shona

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Response from Linda Russell, Business Manager, Management Offices, Crosshouse Hospital, NHS Ayrshire & Arran 2 years ago
Linda Russell
Business Manager, Management Offices, Crosshouse Hospital,
NHS Ayrshire & Arran

Submitted on 02/09/2021 at 15:48
Published on Care Opinion on 03/09/2021 at 09:49

I hope that your daughter is now making a recovery from what must have been a traumatic experience for her and a very distressing time for you all.

If you think it would be helpful to discuss your feedback about the Emergency Department further, please feel free to call me on 01563 826210 or email me, linda.russell7@aapct.scot.nhs.uk.

All best wishes

Linda

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