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"Rude experience at Covid test centre"

About: NHS Lothian / Covid 19 Vaccination Programme

(as a service user),

My Spanish sister has been in Scotland for a while and, unfortunately, we started suspecting that maybe she had got Covid. She took a lateral flow test and the result was positive so we immediately booked a PCR test for us (my girlfriend and me) and her. 

When we arrived people seemed a bit confused about what to do with us as I told them that my sister was positive in her last lateral test, so we went to one room for our test and she went to another. 

It felt like the person in charge, who never gave their name or identification number, treated me and my girlfriend in a very rude way, as  if we were dumb kids in school. I thought that maybe they would understand that we were foreign and they would speak more slowly or use some sign language. I have been living for 3 years in Edinburgh but sometimes I have days in which I need to pay extra attention to be able to understand some people. I was already thinking about how my sister would be able to understand this member of staff .

When my girlfriend and I had finished our test I went to the room where my sister was. She was having a very bad time and was almost crying. I tried to go and help but I was forced to go outside when I tried. She was crying and asking for her sister to come to translate for her. I was yelling that she did not understand from the door. Nobody did anything. I found the person in charge to be especially rude and gesticulating in front of my sister. 

In the end, after about 10 awful minutes , another guy who was Spanish came of his own accord (nobody called him to help) and started to translate

When my sister went out in tears, I asked (from the door) if I could have some kind of identification to make a complaint, but nobody gave me that information or advised how I could make a complaint 

One other manager or supervisor, I don't who, came out. He was Spanish and tried to apologise. 

I believe that if your job is dealing with people then you should be patient and try to look for solutions and not just treat the people as if they are stupid and make them feel literally as rubbish. It would have been enough to speak a bit more slowly  and loudly, or to call a Spanish colleague for assistance at the start and of course not to make rude gestures

In my view, if you don't know who to treat people in a nice way, you should go and find a job where you are inside a laboratory alone!

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Responses

Response from Louise Davies, Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team, NHS Lothian 2 years ago
Louise Davies
Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team,
NHS Lothian
Submitted on 13/01/2022 at 14:50
Published on Care Opinion at 14:50


picture of Louise Davies

Dear fornaxph55

I am so sorry to hear of your poor experience and of the upset caused to your sister. In order for me to pass this on to the appropriate people, please can I ask you to confirm which test centre this is regarding and also the date and approximate time you attended?

Thank you for taking the time to share this feedback with us, I look forward to hearing back from you.

Louise

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