"Observations not done in an orderly manner"

Dear Turalexander, I am sorry to hear of your significant delay in ED and experience in the ward. Unfortunately the whole service was under significant pressure at this time which delayed your admission to the ward. When you arrived we had to overflow admissions into the Short Stay Assessment Unit as all inpatient rooms were occupied. I apologise for the delay in securing bed linen as a bed needed to be brought and swapped with the couch.

In relation to the low temperature of the room; it was noted by the nurse that your daughter's temperature was very low and that the room was cold. I have been informed that the staff moved you to another room on the ward as soon as it was vacated and cleaned. The matter in relation to the room temperature has been reported to the estates department,

I understand it was a long wait for you both in ED and especially with a young child to nurse for an extended period. So I can appreciate your frustration that the room was not ready when you arrived and then there was a further wait whilst the antibiotics were prescribed. Unfortunately the nursing staff could not administer these until the Doctor came back from ED to write the prescription.

On admission the practice on the ward is to give parents a copy of the PEWS information leaflet explaining the observations that are undertaken; we rely on parents to work in partnership with us in monitoring the children as parents always know their child best. If parents have any concerns and would like or need further observations carried out at any time, we welcome and encourage them to request this.

I note that your daughters PEWS chart was commenced in the ED department and therefore you may not have received a copy of this leaflet. It is unfortunate that the staff did not check that you had been given a leaflet.

It is disappointing that you felt the staff were not serious about monitoring your daughter: this would not be our intention and I apologise that you felt like that. When the ward is over occupied staff can be pulled in many ways for various reasons so we rely heavily on parents and carers alerting us when they feel their child needs further observations undertaken.

I would like to thank you for sharing your experience with us and can assure you that we will take the learning from this on board especially ensuring that all parents and carers are given the PEWS information leaflet on admission to the ward.

We will remind staff to advise parents and carers that we welcome the input from them to alert staff should they feel their child's condition has changed at any time.

Kind Regards

Bernie