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Care Opinion

Knowing which service is the right one.

Posted By fruitpharm

"Knowing which service is the right one."

About: Northern General Hospital / Trauma and orthopaedics

(as a relative),

My wife tripped, sustaining a very painful injury to her ankle making it impossible to walk. We suspected that she may have had a fracture and I took her to A&E at the Northern General where she was examined and X-rayed. She was diagnosed with an ovulsion fracture and a bad sprain. The nurse applied a compression bandage, advised on care and provided a pair of crutches.

The care she received at this episode was excellent and I cannot fault it. However, on reflection we should have gone to the MIU at the Hallamshire. I wasn't aware (even though I work for the CCG! ) that the MIU can deal with suspected fractures. The leaflet "Which service is best for me? " states that the MIU is for less serious injuries such as sprains, cuts and grazes. No mention of fractures.

Had I known that we could have been managed at the MIU then we would have gone there instead of A&E.

On the downside, building works at the hospital and lack of signage made it very difficult to know how to drive up to the entrance of A&E. My wife was unable to walk and so we had to navigate through the entrance to Huntsman and use the lifts. There were no obvious temporary signs. It transpired that we could have asked the workman, at the bottom of the drive to A&E, to let us through to the entrance (ignoring the 'No Entry' road-sign).

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Responses

Response from Steve Ashmore, NHS Sheffield ICB 8 years ago
Steve Ashmore
NHS Sheffield ICB

Submitted on 18/08/2015 at 11:06
Published on Care Opinion at 14:43

Thank you for sharing the experience of urgent care as a relative.I am pleased that the service you received from the Accident and EmergencyDepartment was good. I hope that your wife has now made a full recovery.


I note your comments concerning the difficulty in making the correct choice of where to access treatment. The CCG has received a number of comments from patients highlighting this issue and we will try, in conjunction with our provider partners, to improve the information we all provide.


If you would like to keep up to date with how the CCG isusing your feedback, you can do so here


https://www.patientopinion.org.uk/blogposts/399/ell-us-what-you-think-of-sheffields-urgent-ca


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Response from Deborah Hopkinson, Patient Experience Co-ordinator, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
Deborah Hopkinson
Patient Experience Co-ordinator,
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 03/09/2015 at 15:55
Published on Care Opinion at 16:06

Thank you for posting your thoughts on building work and signage. Your comments have been escalated and we hope to come back to you shortly with our response.

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Response from Deborah Hopkinson, Patient Experience Co-ordinator, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
Deborah Hopkinson
Patient Experience Co-ordinator,
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 07/09/2015 at 11:42
Published on Care Opinion at 12:25

Thanks for your comments about building work and signage. Currently, there are two major developments taking place around A&E; Huntsman entrance and the new Helipad. This has necessitated in demolition and building work in order to improve facilities and care for our patients and visitors.

The Estates department reviewed the signage prior to the commencement of the building work and tried to sign as much as they could everywhere in the vicinity where the work was on going.

We are very sorry that the work has caused inconvenience and frustration. On receiving your comments they will make sure that those signs are still fixed and relevant in order to avoid any unnecessary delays and confusion.

Kind regards.

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