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"Appalling discharge procedure"

About: William Harvey Hospital (Ashford)

My mother, Helen, was taken to the William Harvey A and E on Saturday January 11th after a fall. I was not with her at the time- and her carers alerted the ambulance. She was kept in A and E all day, and I have no complaints with the medical staff who seemed to be treating her with respect when I rang up. However she was discharged at about 4.00 pm and then had to wait for transport till about 7.30. She was then taken back to her home in Adisham, Nr Canterbury and summarily dumped at her house. By good luck a neighbour had gone over in the dark to check things out- and she showed them where the door was and found the key, about which they had no information, despite the carer furnishing the hospital with it. They then left her in the house and presumed that the neighbour would be looking after her. The neighbour also commented that both ambulance staff were singularly lacking in empathy. This is all bad enough, but, prior to her discharge, one of the medical staff assured me that she would be supported by the ICTT when she arrived home- and would be visited by them afterwards. None of this has been put in place- and my Mum has subsequently had another fall within 24 hours. When I rang A and E again to talk to the ICTT, they were unable to put me in touch because of patient confidentiality!! I have included my mum's name and where she lives so the poor practice of this particular after care can be identified.

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Responses

Response from Julie Pearce, Chief Nurse + Director of Quality + Operations, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust 10 years ago
Julie Pearce
Chief Nurse + Director of Quality + Operations,
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

I am responsible for quality improvement which includes patient safety and patient experience

Submitted on 14/01/2014 at 07:09
Published on Care Opinion at 10:57


Thank you for providing feedback and what you describe falls short of the standard of care we would expect to provide. Please do email me and I will follow this through for you and your mother. My email address is Julie.pearce1@nhs.net

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Response from William Harvey Hospital (Ashford) 10 years ago
William Harvey Hospital (Ashford)
Submitted on 15/01/2014 at 11:37
Published on nhs.uk on 16/01/2014 at 03:00


I am sorry to hear of the experience your Mother had, your comments will be recorded onto our database for feedback to the division. We would also like to thank you for your kind comments regarding the William Harvey hospital. All feedback is important to us and is used as a tool to improve services as a direct result of what we are told. If you would like to talk to the Patient Experience Team about any concerns that you would like to take forward our contact details are as follows : Telephone number : 01227 783145 Email address : ekht-tr.patientexperienceteam@nhs.net

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