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Care Opinion

Poor care given to acutely unwell Mother

Posted By PEACCA

"Poor care given to acutely unwell Mother"

About: Woodend Hospital / Elective Orthopaedics

(as a relative),

My Mother recently had her hip replaced at woodend.

Following her operation she felt very unwell and vomiting quite a few times. We were quite concerned and felt uneasy leaving her in the evening. I am a RN and I was very concerned about her NEWS score being 4 at that point but the nurse was very short with my mother and told her it was just the effects of the surgery!

The next day she still felt unwell but a very rude support worker insisted she get up and shower, speaking in a very short and condesending manner. This was quite an upsetting ordeal for my Mum and she even though she still felt unwell the following day, she stated she was well so she could return home.

When I managed to view her chart the day of discharge I saw her NEWS went up to 5, with her being hypotensive, pyrexic at 38. 3c, tachycardic, sats of 90% and resps of 22! However the worst was this was at 23: 06, there were no other recordings again till 6: 45am the next day! When her NEWS score was now 3 as at least they had placed O2 via NC overnight but again as I said she felt unwell and had told the nursing team but felt this was being ignored. Her temp was up at 38. 8c by then, my Mum has a low immune system due to her medication and has had sepsis due to cellultis before but it seems there was a lack of observations, montioring and recording here? !

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Responses

Response from Kate Danskin, Chief Nurse, Surgical Division, NHS Grampian 6 years ago
Kate Danskin
Chief Nurse, Surgical Division,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 19/06/2017 at 17:29
Published on Care Opinion on 20/06/2017 at 09:18

Thank you for posting feedback of your experience of your Mother's care PEACCA.

I am dismayed that your Mother experienced behaviour that was short, rude and condescending from both a nurse and healthcare support worker.This is not acceptable and I am extremely sorry for the impact this understandably had on you and your Mother. I am not surprised you felt uneasy about leaving her and to hear she found this upsetting.

I am also sorry that we did not meet the standards expected in relation to her NEWs.

I am concerned by the issues you raise and wonder if your Mother would feel comfortable if she - or you -could phone me so I can look into this a bit more? You can contact me via the switchboard on 0345 456 6000.

I will share this post with the Nurse Manager and orthopaedic teams at Woodend. I will ask them to discuss your post with their teams and use this as an opportunity to reflect and refresh. I know they will be disappointed to read this post and will be very motivated to ensure this does not happen to anyone else.

Thank you again for sharing your experience and please accept my sincere apologies. Although it is hard to read about when we get it wrong it is so helpful so we can take action. I do hope your Mother is now recovering well from her surgery.

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