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My stay

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"My stay"

I was admitted to Lincoln ward under the mental health act which I understand at the time meant I was fairly unwell. However I was still able to understand information, staffs comments and the general lack of care on the ward. I was disappointed when I first walked in for the nurse to call me by a different name this made me feel unsettled to which I was then left in my room with no clue of what the ward routines where including meal times. I then spotted a member of the opposite sex to which I thought all wards were now one gender and not mixed so this was a surprise. Staff seemed to have a high expectation of myself understanding why I was in hospital routine etc due to my job role and this even was brought up on occasions which I found very belittling. Even the cleaner asked me if I was the 'job role' that had been admitted , what on earth has it got to do with the cleaner what I do. It wasn't till a family member mentioned this was this addressed. A lot of decisions about leave etc and discharge where made without myself which I thought was highly disgusting where is patient centred care in that. I also found that staff wearing jeans and leggings made it difficult to differentiate between patients and staff when you are first admitted. If you are also on leave you have to have whatever is left the next day for meals as nothing is ordered. On one occasion I was even told to behave which I found highly insulting. Staff on occasion where difficult to approach when sat laughing and joking in groups in the main office to which I thought I was an inconvience . Some staff where kind and considerate however others I wonder how they got a job in the caring profession. Overall I got some help I needed and I am forever grateful but on on the other hand I feel I could have had a more positive patient experience

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Responses

Response from Sandwell Park 8 years ago
Sandwell Park

Submitted on 26/08/2015 at 14:04
Published on nhs.uk on 27/08/2015 at 02:31

We are sorry to hear that you have had a negative experience when you were an inpatient at Sandwell Park Hospital. The experience you describe is not reflective of the standard of care we aim to provide and we welcome your feedback.

We apologise that you did not receive our usual standards of welcome to the ward. When someone is admitted we should always make them feel welcome, orientate them to the environment and make sure they understand all the routines on the ward.

We also provide a welcome pack in each bedroom with important information people need for their stay including meal times and what they can expect within their first 24 hours.

Sandwell Park is a mixed gender environment.

It meets Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards and also met the requirements of a recent privacy and dignity audit.

To ensure that this is an ongoing achievement we have clearly defined male and female areas of the ward and all staff have awareness of the need to ensure that privacy and dignity is observed at all times.

We are disappointed that personal information about you appears to have been discussed in the way you describe.

We will use your experience to remind staff of the impact to service users when our expected confidentiality and patient respect standards are not met.

While we do not have a uniform policy at Sandwell Park we do have a dress code policy which clearly states that jeans are not acceptable. This is monitored closely on a daily basis by the ward manager and the matron.

All staff must wear their identity badges all the time and in a place that is easy for people to see.

We are sorry that you did not feel included in decisions about your care. We always aim to fully involve everyone in all aspects of their care including care reviews, leave planning and discharge planning and we will always work with staff and service users to improve how we do this.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss your feedback further with you and if you would like to do this, please contact Corinne Aspel, Lead Nurse Patient Experience on 0191 333 3566.

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