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Bowelscope

Posted By Mortified

"Bowelscope"

(as the patient),

I agreed to take part in the bowelscope trial at Stracathro tayside Scotland.

I was Surprised that a Nurse practitioner carried out procedure

Firstly the advice to carry out self enema one hour before leaving the house didn't work as still needed the loo at clinic!

I think I should have been advised to perform it a lot earlier. Embarrassed bowel not clean during procedure and nobody said anything to reassure me.

NP didn't say much before or during the procedure except that there might be some discomfort initially.

Nurse at my side was very supportive which was just as well as I was unprepared for how painful it was! I was shouting out and gripping her hand!

The NP continued without any reassurance that it might improve.

It was only when I was being led to the toilet that I was advised everything was normal but I would still have to do the screening test as they didn't get as far as they hoped. I felt embarrassed that I might have been protesting too much but I've never felt pain like it. It was worse than giving birth!

My friend had the same procedure in Aberdeen carried out by a consultant and didn't feel a thing! I have since read that the discomfort might be down to the experience of the person doing the procedure which made me feel better but angry that my experience could have been different. I believe that I was made to feel the procedure was incomplete because I had a low pain threshold.

Also why is there no patient feedback form.

If they are going to roll this out across the country I think they they need to be sure patients all have a tolerable level of pain

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Responses

Response from Alison Moss, Feedback Manager, NHS Tayside 8 years ago
Alison Moss
Feedback Manager,
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 23/09/2015 at 12:03
Published on Care Opinion at 13:19

I am extremely sorry to hear that you did not have a good experience of the service at Stracathro Hospital when you attended as part of the bowelscope trial. We are always keen to receive feedback to enable us to improve the experience of our patients and appreciate you taking the time to share this with us.

I was disappointed that you did not have the opportunity to complete a patient feedback form – I understand there is a comments box in the front waiting area but, in light of your comments, we will review the accessibility of this for patients. I can confirm that the service is about to start using an ‘Improvement Tree’ in the corridor leading to the Endoscopy Unit as a way of gathering more patient feedback. I understand that patient satisfaction is also being evaluated by the national Bowelscope programme and that you will be sent a questionnaire to complete and return.

I note that you were surprised that a Nurse Endoscopist carried out your procedure; this information is contained within the booklet “Your appointment for bowel scope screening” and I am sorry if this information was not provided to you. Within NHS Tayside Nurse Endoscopists are essential members of our Endoscopy Team and undertake rigourous training to ensure they can perform diagnostic endoscopy safely, with audits undertaken to ensure standards are met. This includes audit of patient comfort scores.

It is clear from the information you have provided that your experience has not been of the standard we would expect for our patients and that you have been embarrassed by this. We would welcome the opportunity to investigate this further for you. If you would like to take up this offer, please contact the Complaints and Feedback Team on 0800 027 5507 or via email feedback.tayside@nhs.net

In the meantime, I can confirm that your feedback has been shared with the service for learning.

Kind regards.

Jill Forbes

Clinical Services Manager

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