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Royal Infirmary Edinburgh

Posted By geminime79

"Royal Infirmary Edinburgh"

About: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France / Accident & Emergency Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France / Acute Medical Unit

(as a carer),

My 84 year old mum has been admitted to the Royal a good few times over past few months. She has dementia and staff within A&E and the Acute Medical Unit I feel like they have no understanding of this condition. It would benefit many people if there was a couple of staff on hand who deal with this condition. Staff did not seem to read notes of previous admissions, therefore we were constantly repeating situation numerous times. My mum had severe delirium while in the AMU and when I phoned to ask how she was I was advised she was confused however apart from that she was fine. On arriving for my visit my mother was so distressed, I had never seen her like this, it was quite clear she wasn’t just confused she had delirium, staff did not pick this up and it was my visit that pointed this out which required a doctors attendance as her infection had taken hold which caused the delirium.

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Responses

Response from Louise Davies, Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team, NHS Lothian 3 years ago
Louise Davies
Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 05/04/2022 at 10:43
Published on Care Opinion at 10:43

picture of Louise Davies

Hi geminime79

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback with us, I would like to sincerely apologise for the delay in responding to this.

I am really sorry to hear that you felt that staff in the Emergency Department and Acute Medical Unit at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh did not have much understanding of dementia. I am also sorry that you had to repeat information to staff several times and that when you visited your mother, she was so distressed. This must have been a very upsetting experience for you.

I would like to assure you that your feedback has been shared with the relevant Clinical Management Team to review. Our teams are always looking for ways to improve the service provided to patients and I am sure this feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Louise

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Response from Michelle Jack, Associate Nurse Director, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, NHS Lothian 3 years ago
Michelle Jack
Associate Nurse Director, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 05/04/2022 at 12:02
Published on Care Opinion at 12:02

picture of Michelle Jack

Thank you for your feedback this is very important to us and I will ensure I feedback your experience to the teams involved. We have a lot of work going on currently to let us better understand and nurse patients who have stress and distress relating to their medical condition or delirium/dementia and hope this will help in the future so patients and families do not have the same experience you have detailed. May I once again apologise for your experience with us in the Royal.

michelle

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