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"A&E experience"

About: Chesterfield Royal Hospital

I was taken by ambulance to A&E last weekend after suffering a post operative bleed. When I arrived a nurse came to check me in and spent the whole process moaning about their shift. I appreciate that nurses work under tough conditions but so do I and would never dream of moaning in front of my client base. Another nurse came in to ask questions but left moments later because a baby had come in. The nurse came back after a while so I asked if the baby was ok and if they were still needed to help the baby - the nurse said no, they weren't needed, they just wanted to coo over the baby. I spent an hour on a trolley in a corridor then went to a cubicle. I asked a passing nurse if they could help me go to the loo. They said just a minute. Half an hour later no-one appeared so I struggled off the bed and took myself to the loo. Having had recent surgery it was extremely painful to negotiate the bars that were on the sides of the trolley to try and get off the bed and out to the loo. When the doctor came they queried why I hadn't been put in a gown and why I was having to use my cardi as a blanket in majors. The doctor said I needed to go to EMU so I was put back on a trolley on the corridor to wait for a bed. My trolley was opposite the cubicle that housed the aggressive drunk and the curtains weren't drawn across his cubicle so I pretended to be asleep for an hour until I was moved because he was intimidating. I was in A&E from 10.30pm until 3am and whilst I appreciate that it was the weekend and it was busy no-one asked if I was okay (I wasn't). I was reassured by the ambulance crew and the doctor that I had done the right thing coming to hospital but at no point did I feel like a patient.

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Responses

Response from Chesterfield Royal Hospital 8 years ago
Chesterfield Royal Hospital
Submitted on 06/10/2015 at 11:33
Published on nhs.uk on 07/10/2015 at 02:31


Thank you for sharing your recent experience in the Emergency Department with us, which I will be sharing with the team.

I am really sorry to read your comment at the end of your post, which says that at ‘no point did you feel like a patient’ – I am sure that staff will be equally saddened to read this as well. I agree that it is unsettling to hear staff moan about their shift and I can understand how unprofessional this must have seemed when you had been brought into hospital with what could have been a serious condition following surgery. In addition to all the other issues you raise here and you must have felt very distressed by it all.

I know it is too late to change your experience on this occasion but I hope that we can learn from what you have described here.

If you would like us to look into your ED visit in more detail, or would like to talk it through with someone please let us have your contact details.

You can either call our assistance & complaints team on 01246 512640 or email me your telephone number sarah.turner-saint@nhs.net

I hope you are now much better and are making a good recovery. Best wishes Sarah Turner-Saint Head of Communications

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