"A&E Visit"

My daughter was admitted recently and remained in hospital until the following day. My daughter is only a toddler and was brought in via ambulance and therefore had to go through A and E. Upon arrival observations were taken by a nurse and we were then put in a room outside the nurse/doctor station and told we would be seen shortly. I have two parts to this complaint however will start with the most horrific. The room we were placed in was not cleaned correctly and ready for another patient and it was only after an hour of being in the room did we notice this.

The side of the metal bed frame was covered in blood! I have taken pictures of this for my own records as I was so disgusted at what I was seeing. I left the room with my toddler in tow and let the nurses know immediately. One of your nurses on duty actually told me it couldn’t be possible. I told them I had the pictures to prove it and only then 3 nurses seemed to take me seriously. One of the nurses informed me they would have it cleaned immediately and that it would be sorted. I don’t think this is good enough, I could not trust the standard this would be cleaned to after what had just happened and refused to go back in the room. Where this might be common practice to those that deal with that day in day out it most certainly isn’t to someone like myself who had a very unwell toddler in tow.

I asked to make a complaint and was given a form on who to call to do this. I asked if someone on shift could take this and was pointed towards a member of staff who was on the phone. I felt it was clear come this point that the 2 nurses ‘assisting’ me wanted to wash their hands of it. I was introduced to a member of staff who I believe was in charge. I got the impression that this person initially could not have been any less interested. They sat at the desk and told us they were sorry however it had been a very busy night in A and E. I think this is unacceptable and regardless of how busy they were there should never be a circumstance where a bed covered in blood is left for another patient. My daughter dropped her dummy in this room which I swiftly binned given the mess of it. It was evident at this point however that other patients could hear the conversation (and why should they not if this could affect them) and my family was ushered to a room further away. The member of staff apologised to us for the situation but in all honesty the damage was done. How is that acceptable? Could this have impacted my families health? We are now wondering.

During this time one of the nurses told us we had only been waiting for 40 minutes which was like adding insult to injury given what had just happened. Would you like to be in a room for 40 minutes with a bed covered in blood? After debating this the nurse in charge agreed we have been waiting close to 2 hours however we were next to be seen. Something we had been told almost an hour before by a doctor.

That takes me on quite nicely to the other part of my complaint. As mentioned we were in a room across from the nurses / doctor station. We instantly recognised one of the doctors named as they had treated my daughter in a previous occasion. I remember them because they repeatedly referred to my daughter as a he, had to check their notes for the name and made several errors that I felt it necessary to interrupt to ensure they were seeing the correct patient. This meeting I cannot say was any better. They quite loudly stood and discussed an incident that had happened the previous night when the police had been called for a patient. When asked what happened they explained in a loud voice what exactly the patient had said to them. Something that was unsavoury and I would never repeat. Remembering here I am sitting with an impressionable 2 year old. This is language I would never use and I do not expect my daughters care givers to use it either.

There was another doctor on shift that night. After some time my husband enquired about when we would be seen. This other doctor literally stared through him and said you haven’t been here that long, you are next in line. A few minutes later the doctor came in to the room and repeated that we were next in line and that my daughter only had a temperature. This is a drop in the ocean to what my daughter was going through and highly rude and disrespectful. What aggravated the situation was that the full time we had been waiting the doctor never seemed to move from the desk and seemed to be sat gossiping to anyone who was nearby and arranging a night out with colleagues. I am sure you get the idea. Not once did we see the doctor assisting anyone or helping. The doctor was coming towards the end of their shift and I think it showed, in my opinion the last patient of the day should be treated the same as the first and if that's not something you can do maybe you're not in the right job!

I think Wishaw General needs to look a bit closer to home and at their staffing if they truly want to fix the problem because from what we have witnessed the it's only the nurses who are ran ragged.

There was another doctor who I would like to complain about however do not know their name. Another person was enquiring about their relative’s treatment. They was asking when they would be seen. Upon the person leaving the desk the doctor said (loud enough for us to hear) what is wrong with that family? Have they fallen out or something. I found this highly unprofessional.

I would like this taken seriously because as my local hospital I take the care afforded to my family very seriously and right now I am disgusted at the behaviour of the A and E staff. I do not believe you should be in a care giving role if you do not care which is how it seems. Your duty of care should be the same for the first patient as it is to the last.

Were it not for the paediatrics department, who are an asset to the hospital, I would refuse to return to Wishaw General.