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Almost nothing. Joined up thinking ...

Story from nhs.uk

"Almost nothing. Joined up thinking ..."

About: Queen Elizabeth I I Hospital (Welwyn Garden City)

(as the patient),

What I liked

Almost nothing.

Joined up thinking and/or liaison between departments was seemingly non existent.Non english speaking staff in key areas.From reception staff thru to"nurses", well that's an anomaly, no one seems to be an SRN and their rank is denoted by the width of the stripe on their tunic. They're either agency staff and/or just some kind of helper. if I had a choice of the QE2 hospital of travelling to Aberdeen,i'd go to Scotland. A total shambles.

there seems to be an underlying attitude of " I don't get paid enough for this and everything was too much trouble. Doctor's swanning around like they're almighty God and telling you nothing,while their mobile phone goes off and they start having a private conversation while they're supposed to be talking to you about your condition.

What could be improved

Almost everything.

Anything else?

This hospital only got a rating of Fair from the NHS performance targets. The only thing that was fair, were the prices in the WRVS cafe. !!

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Responses

Response from Queen Elizabeth I I Hospital 14 years ago
Queen Elizabeth I I Hospital

Submitted on 14/01/2010 at 17:36
Published on nhs.uk on 15/01/2010 at 04:18

You clearly are unhappy with your treatment at the QEII, which we have to say is at odds with much of the feedback that we receive. While we are not going to deny that your experience was poor on this occasion, some of the things that you have said need commenting further:

1) Our nurses, whether born in this country or overseas, must have an adequate level of English to communicate effectively with their patients and colleagues. It's a basic requirement and one that we know our nursing staff has in abundance;

2) Our nursing workforce, like all NHS hospitals, is made up of a mix of staff - which includes both state registered nurses and healthcare assistants. Our use of agency staff is actually very low;

3) Our staff are not allowed to take private calls on their mobiles when on duty in the way you described - this would be followed up with them where this was seen to be happening.

As we said earlier, we accept that your experience of the QEII was poor on this occasion and from our experience of patient feedback generally about the hospital, out of line with what most patients tell us. Which is why we would encourage you to make a formal complaint so that the issues you have raised can be investigated on your behalf. All you need do is send us an e-mail to: patcomplaints.enh-tr@nhs.net.

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