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Call to Management to support frontline staff

Posted By M11rf

"Call to Management to support frontline staff"

About: Dr Gray's Hospital / Emergency Medicine Dr Gray's Hospital / Respiratory Medicine (Breathing and Lung Problems)

(as a service user),

One Friday in March I unfortunately had to be referred for admission to Dr Greys hospital in Elgin. As this was my 4th admission this year for pneumonia I was very aware of what the procedure would be. However things were very different and even though staff had completed x rays etc. and that my consultant had confirmed that I needed to be admitted, 2 hours after this discussion I was still in a cubicle in A&E.

I am well aware of the pressure that our frontline NHS staff are under and in NO WAY DO I PUT ANY BLAME ON THEM FOR THIS INCIDENT. I had now been in A&E for approximately 9 hours with still no information regarding going to a ward. It was around this time my family sent me a message with a statement from the Hospital to say 4 out of 8 wards were shut due to a Nova virus outbreak. This I found out via my family, NOT the hospital.

Hospital management should have came and communicated the problem to us patients and I for one would been completely empathetic with the problem instead it was left to the vastly over worked frontline medical staff to have the added pressure of having to try and explained to us the reasons for the problems, while at the same time having to try and work out how to bed more patients than beds were available for. The A&E team in Elgin are absolutely magnificent and have looked after me fantastically well. I have now been informed that I hold the record for the longest stay in Elgin A&E, as I write, it’s been 46 hours and counting.

Come on Dr Greys Management, give your frontline staff the support they need to do there job, or be prepared for even more great personal to leave the NHS

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Responses

Response from Louise Pearson, Unit Operational Manager, Women & Children's Services, Dr Gray's, NHS Grampian 2 years ago
Louise Pearson
Unit Operational Manager, Women & Children's Services, Dr Gray's,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 22/03/2022 at 17:37
Published on Care Opinion at 17:37

picture of Louise Pearson

Dear M11rf,

Thank you for getting in touch. This past weekend was extraordinarily challenging for all teams at Dr Gray's. I'm truly sorry that you had such a long wait in our ED department. This isn't the standard that we strive for and was clearly very different from your previous experience of the department. I also apologise for the lack of explanation from the hospital team about the norovirus situation and that you had to hear this from your family via our media statement. We absolutely should have explained things directly to all affected patients.

We're completing a reflective review of all aspects surrounding the outbreak and I'll make sure your feedback is taken into account. We hope that we never find ourselves in this situation again but will use your feedback to improve our communication in future.

I'll also pass your praise onto the ED team. They worked incredibly hard over the weekend and I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear your comments of support.

Kind regards,

Louise

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by M11rf (a service user)

Hi Louise

Thanks for your reply, I just wanted to highlight that I had absolutely no problem or complaint with the long Wait in ED, (which ended at 71 hours 30 mins,) nor the knock on effect caused by Nova virus in other wards. These were unusual circumstances to say the least

My point was the lack of communication and when the problem was communicated it was left to medical staff, not clerical management, to do it.

Please pass on my thanks to ALL the staff in both ED and laterally ward 1 who have looked after me.

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