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We waited 9 hours for something that took 5 minutes to be do...

Posted By MITCH74

"We waited 9 hours for something that took 5 minutes to be done"

About: Darent Valley Hospital / Accident and emergency Darent Valley Hospital / Trauma and orthopaedics

(as a relative),

Brought my mum in to Darent Valley Hospital A&E as she had knocked her leg and had a huge Haematoma. We arrived about 8am and we sat in the waiting area, they had the air conditioning on so it was cold sitting there and alot of the people waiting were asking for blankets.

Alot of the staff just seem to stand about chatting or looking on computers at things and don't seem to be very 'hands on' about things.

I'm not a medical expert here but I knew that my mum's leg needed urgent treatment as she has been in A&E before with the same injury and they left my mum's leg for so long that the swelling burst her leg open which resulted in my mum having to stay in for a week.

It took 3 Doctor's to come to a decision on what to do to my mum's leg and the procedure that they did only took about 5 minutes. We waited for 9 hours for something that took 5 minutes to be done. If they had of done the procedure there and then we wouldn't of had to waste 9 hours of their time!

I do think they seriously need to up their game and sort patients out quicker instead of appearing to drag it out.

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Responses

Response from E-Communications Manager, Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust 10 years ago
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust

Submitted on 13/09/2013 at 12:18
Published on Care Opinion at 15:56

Dear Mitch

Thank you for taking the time to write a review regarding your recent visit to the Emergency Department. We are very sorry the waiting room was cold, unfortunately the outside temperature dropped drastically causing this issue, which has now been resolved.

With regard to your mother’s treatment, on occasions the Emergency Department can become extremely busy and as you will appreciate life threatening injuries take priority, this can mean a delay to patients waiting for treatment. You also mention that three doctors discussed your mother’s treatment, this would have been to ensure that she received a joint decision on what was best for her, and although the final decision turned out to be a 5 minutes procedure, we do hope that this has now resolved her injury.

We wish your mother a speedy recovery and apologise again for the delay you both experienced.

With best wishes

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