"My experience of psychiatric intensive care at RDaSH"

Dear Doggy81,

First of all, thanks very much for your comments about your stay on the PICU ward. We hope you are feeling well and are fully recovered from your recent illness.

We were very sorry to hear that you were unhappy with parts of our service, especially with regards to poor communication about your requests and in particular about medication. We are currently trying to improve some of the points you mentioned.

All patients are now given written information about their tablets and possible side effects as well as the nurses talking to each patient individually about the medication they are taking or alternative drugs or treatments that they may wish to try or tablets that their doctors have suggested they take.

We also have a pharmacist who is wiling to talk to each patient if they have any concerns or worries about their medication.

You will be pleased to hear that we now have new signs on the Ward, so hopefully this won’t cause any confusion for patients in the future. All staff have been told to show patients around the ward when they arrive, so that they know about all the facilities available.

There really is no excuse as to why your bed was cold, staff are on hand to adjust the central heating or fetch blankets and quilts if this should happen in the future.

We have passed your comments about the cleanliness of the ward on to our domestic department as well as nursing staff and have standards in place to ensure the ward is as clean and hygienic as possible at all times.

Our PICU ward is small, as you know, and it is sometimes difficult to maintain a quiet, calm environment but we do endeavour to make patients feel as relaxed and content as possible.

We hope we have answered all your comments satisfactorily but please do not hesitate to get back to us with anything else you feel might improve our service for patients as we found your response really useful.

Yours Sincerely,

John O’Grady

Modern Matron