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"Inconsistent experience in A&E"

About: Ailsa Hospital / General Psychiatry University Hospital Ayr / Trauma & orthopaedics

(as a relative),

My Aunt had been admitted from Ailsa Hospital with high temperature and breathlessness. After waiting for over an hour with her only on oxygen, no one had been to assess her with the exception of a good student nurse. This student had a lovely nature with my aunt but could only check temperature which was still high.

After 1hr 45 mins a doctor came to assess her. This doctor was extremely rude, did not introduce himself or even look at us in the face when we asked him questions. I could not make an official complaint about him here as he never introduced himself or wore an ID badge so I don't know his name. He never spoke to my aunt or explained what he was trying to do, and when he did speak he mumbled and was very quiet. I'm not sure if he was an FY1 or a student but his manner was abysmal. He started doing an abdominal examination on my aunt without explaining what he was doing. I had to question him and ask on several occasions to keep updating us with what he was doing and what he was looking for. He then proceeded to attempt to take blood from my aunt, again without warning her what he was doing, and took 5 attempts. He tried to put a venflon in my aunts right hand 5 times. Three times with the pink, twice with the blue, all on the one hand unsuccessfully. Her hand was bleeding and bruised and my aunt was in discomfort. All he did was apologise and try once more on the left side with a butterfly. This time was successful.

After this, a female doctor came in who was very good, spoke to my aunt and myself and explained what they were looking for and what they were planning on doing. She introduced herself but I do not know how to spell her name. She was very well spoken.

My uncle then said that the Ailsa hospital had taken blood prior to my aunt coming back into A&E but this information had not been passed on. My aunt had also had a chest xray and chest CT scan the previous day which we were told was clear, but this doctor said she had pneumonia and would have to go on antibiotics.

I am grateful that someone came in and finally took charge of the situation, but am unhappy my aunt had to wait for so long to finally have someone seemingly incompetent put her in further pain.

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Responses

Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 9 years ago
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 23/07/2014 at 12:47
Published on Care Opinion at 13:29


picture of Eunice Goodwin

Dear care4health,

I am really sorry that you and your aunt felt some of your recent hospital experiences were not satisfactory. As I understand it, we should be wearing our badge, introducing ourselves and explaining what we are doing and this was not your experience. Poor communication is a common complaint and it is very disappointing when people do experience this.

On a positive note, I am glad there was some comfort in the care your aunt received from both the student nurse and the female doctor. We do want everyone to be cared for the way we would want ourselves and our relatives to be treated and it is hard to watch when this does not happen.

You have clearly raised other issues too, so I will pass this to the service managers for their consideration. In some situations, it is helpful for us to have more details for example, the date and time of your aunt’s admission. If you would like us to look into this further, please feel free to contact my personal email address (eunice.goodwin@aapct.scot.nhs.uk) or call me on 01563 826222.

I will be away from my desk from Thursday until 4th of August, so I apologise in advance if this takes a little longer to get a response from the service managers.

I hope your aunt is being well looked after now and is recovering well.

Kind regards,

Eunice

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