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Care Opinion

Bag transfer

Posted By GrannieJ

"Bag transfer"

About: Royal Alexandra Hospital / General Surgery (wards 19, 20, 24, 26 &29)

(as the patient),

Admission: -

I was admitted to ward 29 with my bags. Had surgery and was transferred to Ward 32 4 hours later. As the day progressed I kept asking about my bags. I was informed that the nurses used to go get the bags but the day before I was admitted this arrangement was changed. The porters now transferred bags from one ward to another. At one point I informed the nurse that I had medication in my bag. Also I wear distance glasses and use reading glasses. I was on the ward for 7 hours without glasses meds and personal items. It was after 6 before I had my bags delivered.

Discharge: -

I saw my consultant at 10am who told me I could go home. I asked the nurses what the procedure was for discharge. I was informed that I would need to wait on a prescription for pain relief coming up from pharmacy. Again I asked as the day progressed how much longer would I expect to wait. I was told they had called pharmacy and they were working on it and would get it up ASAP. At 2. 30pm I told the nurses my partner was on his way and I was going home when he arrived. He arrived at 3. 30pm. Again I told the nurses I was getting ready to go and I would phone my own GP for prescription. At 4. 10pm I was, told the nurses couldn't discharge me as they were now giving out meds for controlled drugs. Eventually I was discharged at 4. 30pm. I came home and called my GP for a prescription to be picked up the following day. I could have been home early morning instead of waiting over 6 hours for a prescription.

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Responses

Response from Jacki Smart, General Manager, Clyde Sector, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 6 years ago
Jacki Smart
General Manager, Clyde Sector,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Submitted on 14/09/2017 at 13:04
Published on Care Opinion at 16:59

picture of Jacki Smart

Hi there

I am sorry that you have had to raise concerns about elements of your care in the RAH but I am grateful that you've taken the time to do so. It will help the team here and I focus our improvement efforts on the right things. I am so very sorry that it wasn't as it should be

I've asked for some initial comments back from the team and will post an update here asap.

If you'd rather chat offline please don't hesitate to contact me on jacki.smart@ggc.scot.nhs.uk or 0141 314 6928 and we'll get things sorted for you.

Kind regards

Jacki

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Response from Pamela McGoldrick, Senior Organisational Development Advisor, Women & Children's Services, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 6 years ago
Pamela McGoldrick
Senior Organisational Development Advisor, Women & Children's Services,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Submitted on 18/09/2017 at 09:52
Published on Care Opinion on 19/09/2017 at 09:09

picture of Pamela McGoldrick

Dear GrannieJ

I am really sorry that there were aspects of your stay as an inpatient that were unsatisfactory. The Lead Nurse has raised the issues you highlight with senior staff in Ward 32.

There is a particular issue with the transfer of belongings to patients once they are in their post operative ward due to work that is currently taking place to replace lifts in the hospital building. This has limited the number of times that belongings are normally transferred with the portering staff. When the upgrade to the lifts is complete the number of times that belongings are transferred will increase again and this should avoid any prolonged inconvenience for patients. Your post clearly highlights the impact of being without essentials like glasses and other items. Ward staff, theatres staff and portering staff are reviewing the interim arrangements to identify if any additional measures can be put in place which will ensure that patients are not waiting extended periods for their belongings.

In relation to discharge arrangements, it is very important that patients are able to return home at the earliest opportunity once they have been advised they are medically fit to be discharged. It can be that patients are asked to wait a period of time to ensure that all relevant discharge arrangements, including medication, are in place to ensure you are discharged home safely. However, it is unusual for patients to wait for medication over the timescale you are describing. This has been reviewed by nursing staff on the ward and it seems that a step was inadvertently missed by the staff who prescribed the discharge medication which meant that Pharmacy were not initially aware of the request. It did then take a number of hours to dispense the medication to the ward due to the volume of requests they were dealing with. The Senior Charge Nurse has highlighted this to all relevant staff and reinforced correct procedures in relation to discharge prescriptions.

Thank you for providing your feedback on this site. It is important for us to hear when things do not go as they should and consider what can be done to improve this.

I hope you are recovering well at home.

Best wishes

Pam

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