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"You don't want to complain when staff lovely......"

About: Bristol Royal Infirmary

I was wheeled to a+e "for bloods+an ecg" from the o/n sleep clinic after onset of atrial fibrillation,being told by the doc who referred me "see you down there in a minute".Major said I should go to minors, they said major had my notes,the referring doc never turned up+never seen again.Notes "lost" from one side of building to other,so had to retell story 4 times after long a+e wait,while in wheelchair,in pjs,wired up with numerous polysomnography wires+straps from head to toe. Eventually canula put in after "blowing" vein in one hand(it happens,but never used,guessing cos too late by then for anti clotting drug,as now 2hrs after told "see you down there in a minute" by the disappearing doc and their student.) told couldn't return to my sleep clinic observation bed as "you need constant ecg monitoring and to be admitted to a medical ward,but sorry we have no beds yet" (not the lovely staffs' fault I know). After 6 hrs on a trolley,in a side room as no cubicles, no pillow, no food, no drink but more importantly no "constant ecg monitoring" and no update or being checked on by any staff,after being told I needed admitting and "constant monitoring,I finally got a bed,but in a respiratory ward,not cardio.Was another hour on ward in early hours before they found me an ecg monitor....After I told them I was being kept in for "constant ecg monitoring"!! Incidentally the ecg machine alarm then went off every few mins for the next 12 hours on the ward+no one even came to monitor or seemingly note down my resting heart beat that was continually jumping from 110 to (mostly) 179. From a+e at 7.30pm to the respiratory ward at 4a.M I repeatedly begged staff to please get a porter to collect my case from the sleep clinic, so I cld get my earplugs,food,drink+more importantly my asthma meds (that had been due that night+first thing). Repeatedly I was told by the lovely staff that they would see what they could do.....But I heard nothing back and no case until late morning,so no meds and asthma awful.They "dont have seretide, im sorry" was reply when I asked if they could get me some instead, if they couldnt get my bag collected from the sleep clinic at the other side of the building!!....In a hospital!! Lovely nurses, lovely consultant,lovely cardiologist thro the morning+told need meds or cardioversion to get heart slowed+back in rhythm, but had to be done on cardio ward (understandable) but no beds! Still no one could advise me on the results of my bloods (to reassure hadn't had a cardio 'event' at 47!)taken the night b4 in a+e, nor result of chest xray! You don't want to complain,as staff from porters to consultants were lovely+apologetic+its not their fault there are no beds, but in 2015,this is not acceptable,especially where heart issues are concerned. I know that af isn't a life threatening thing, but clots that can form from the fibrillating heart not pumping properly can be.Now over a week on,both me+gp struggling to get results of xray+bloods too! :( :(

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Responses

Response from Bristol Royal Infirmary 9 years ago
Bristol Royal Infirmary
Submitted on 29/04/2015 at 17:21
Published on nhs.uk on 03/05/2015 at 01:02


Thank you for your feedback, which we have passed on to our Emergency Department team. We are pleased to hear that you had such a positive experience of our staff, especially as they were clearly working under a lot of pressure during this time. You raise a number of important points however, and we are very sorry that these aspects of your care did not run as smoothly. There are a number of issues, and they all warrant proper investigation. In order that we can do this we would be very grateful if you could please contact our Patient Support and Complaints Team (0117 342 1050 / pals@uhbristol.nhs.uk). Thank you again and we hope to hear from you soon.

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