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"unacceptable waiting time for child to be seen by…"

About: Burnley General Hospital

It is good to praise the NHS when appropriate but also fair to criticise or provide negative feedback when appropriate.

My 6 year old granddaughter had stomach pains for 2 days & a nasty looking body, legs & arms rash. My daughter contacted her local doctors rooms who advised her to bring the child to Burnley hospital. She arrived there at 7.00pm & was seen by a nurse who suggested the child be seen by a doctor. It was 6 hours later that the doctor arrived. My daughter eventually left the hospital at 1.45 am the next morning. During the same time, another child with burns waited for 5 hours for a doctor. Another child with suspected brake of the collar bone waited for 4 hours for an xray. This is just horrendous & disgraceful service by the NHS & you can be ashamed. Surely this cannot be right. Are you waiting for a death while waiting for a doctor before something is done? This is after all common practise.

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Responses

Response from Burnley General Hospital nearly 2 years ago
Burnley General Hospital
Submitted on 26/05/2022 at 09:14
Published on nhs.uk on 27/05/2022 at 17:41


Thank you for taking the time to share your experience on NHS Website about your granddaughter’s recent visit to the Urgent Treatment Centre at Burnley General Teaching Hospital.

I am extremely sorry to hear of your recent experience and have fed your comments back to the senior staff and the Head of Nursing- Emergency and Acute Pathway. Confirmation has been provided that in line with other Trusts, the Emergency Department, Urgent Treatment Centre and Minor Injuries Unit are all experiencing a huge influx of patients attending and have seen waiting times exceed the 4-hour target on a regular basis. There has also been delays in transferring patients to inpatient beds because of the acuity and their clinical need, which needs to be met within a hospital setting and this has impacted on waiting times and the number of patients waiting in the department.

The number of patients waiting to book into our Urgent Treatment Centres has also risen dramatically and we have seen long queues stretching outside of the hospital foyers which is unacceptable but unfortunately not always unavoidable. We are currently striving to implement additional tools and services to resolve this situation and ensure we deliver safe, personal, and effective care to all our patients and reduce the distress and frustration caused due to long waiting times.

The Emergency Department meet with the Trust Executive Team every morning at 08:15 to look at the current capacity versus demand with actions required. There is a member of the Emergency and Acute Directorate Senior Management Team on duty 7 days a week to support patient experiences and medical staff. We have also increased our nursing and medical staffing budgets to support demand, this is variable due to the number of vacancies nationally of nursing and medical staff.

If you would like to provide further information about your experience you can contact the Patient Experience team by email at patientexperience@elht.nhs.uk

Or if you prefer you can discuss further any concerns you may have about our services with our East Lancashire Hospitals Trust Customer Relations team on 01254 733700 or complaints@elht.nhs.uk who can advise you of your options in raising these concerns further.

Many thanks again for taking the time to provide your feedback.

Sarah Ridehalgh

Patient Experience Facilitator

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