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Unable to contact my family

Posted By oramazda

"Unable to contact my family"

About: Forth Valley Royal Hospital

(as the patient),

I was brought in to AAU  with possible sepsis and was there for about 24 hours before being moved to a ward. I arrived by ambulance on my own and after some 3 hours asked if I could use the land line to phone my family and let them know where I was.

I was  told they only had one mobile hand set on the ward and it wasn't available. One hour later I asked again if someone could phone my home and let them know progress, it didn't happen. 3 hours later my brother phoned and I was allowed to speak briefly to him. There is no mobile signal in the unit and I totally understand why but arriving at hospital on your own is stressful enough surely something can be done to relieve some of that by improving home communication.

In my job I travel to Raigmore, Aberdeen Royal, Ninewells, Victoria Kirkcaldy, none do as badly as this hospital for WiFi access. This is the second newest hospital in Scotland and prides itself for how high tech it is, surely you can do better than this?

I cannot fault the staff and it's obvious many have a real vocation let alone dedication. My night nurse wouldn't 'take the out' to have a meal as she still had patients to treat, just a small example.

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Responses

Response from NHS Forth Valley 7 years ago
NHS Forth Valley

Submitted on 17/11/2016 at 17:28
Published on Care Opinion on 18/11/2016 at 08:55

Dear oramazda

Thank you so much for taking the time to get in touch to leave feedback about your recent experience in the Acute Assessment Unit. I am really sorry that this has been your experience at a very difficult time for both you and your family.

It is absolutely our priority to help as much as we can to alleviate anxieties for both patients and relatives and I am sorry that this did not happen in your case. I would like to reassure you that I will share your experience with the staff to highlight the importance of communication between patients and loved ones.

There is hospital Wi-Fi however this is only accessed during the day by our housekeeping staff, this should have been explained to you, and would have enabled you to gain access when the housekeeping staff came back on duty.

I appreciate your comment about the dedication of staff looking after you, I really am very fortunate to work with a team of staff that are so dedicated to committed to providing the best possible standard of care to our patients.

I hope that you are recovering well.

Yours sincerely

Fiona Coan

Senior Charge Nurse

Acute Assessment Unit/Clinical Assessment Unit

NHS Forth Valley

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