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A&E standards

Story from nhs.uk

"A&E standards"

About: Royal Berkshire Hospital

A&E Departments are hyperactive. Momentary decisions require discretion and innovation, but the NHS can set frameworks and guidelines to retain high quality care for the patients.

My wife was brought to RBH A&E on Thursday evening (14/7). The medical care that she received was good. The social care she received could be improved, as it can at many NHS hospitals.

--- Phlebotomy is an art, not a science, and some are better than others. Incompetent blood-taking is a pain, and occurs too often at poorly-staffed A&Es. It is an inauspcious welcome to hospital.

--- Patient comfort soothes the mind, thus inadeqate blankets, pillows, and room temperature, stress the patient when they should be concentrating on positive thoughts.

--- The NHS has to hire staff whose first language is not English. However the preponderance of staff at the RBH who have difficulty speaking and understanding English hinders patient care.

--- Insufficient staff can be ameliorated by operational direction. The clinical care required and offered by one member of a patient team, should be implemented through procedures, rather than forgotten by busy individuals.

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Responses

Response from Royal Berkshire Hospital 7 years ago
Royal Berkshire Hospital

Submitted on 19/07/2016 at 10:59
Published on nhs.uk on 20/07/2016 at 02:30

Thank you for your feedback. The staff in the Emergency Department strive to ensure patients receive a positive experience; however, as in all emergency departments at times we are stretched to provide the service that we would like to receive and deliver.

As you point out, some of our staff's first language is not English; however, they can all understand spoken English and communicate in English well.

The matron for the area will look into the issue regarding blankets and pillows as we should have enough of these. It may be that when patients move on they have taken these items with them, meaning that replacement supplies did not meet the demand, but this will be investigated.

If you would like to discuss your experience in more detail with the matron, please feel free to contact our Patient Relations Team on 0118 322 8338 or email talktous@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

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