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Having previously had treatment here I...

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"Having previously had treatment here I..."

About: Royal Lancaster Infirmary

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Having previously had treatment here I generally have been impressed by the the care and service I have received however if you are a young person say 18-25 and you come in late at night to the A&E unit, it is assumed by the staff that you are drunk/been drinking, or have come with someone who has been drinking and needs treatment.

I have twice been to the hospital late at night, once as a patient (3/4 years ago) and once as a relative of someone who had been admitted into resus (a couple of days ago). On both occasions I have found that staff have assumed that we had been drinking and that we were treat with a lot of hostility, purely because we were young and it was late night/early morning and the time we had come in with my relative happened to be the student freshers week.

I really do appreciate that working in this department must be stressful, particularly when it is very busy but if the staff are unable to be compassionate and caring to patients and their relatives then they are most certainly in the wrong job.

As I have previously said the standard of treatment is high, and the majority of staff are fantastic it is just a shame the A&E department have some members of staff that are clearly quick to make assumptions and be rude to visitors, whether they are patients or relatives.

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Responses

Response from Royal Lancaster Infirmary 13 years ago
Royal Lancaster Infirmary

Submitted on 08/10/2010 at 10:14
Published on nhs.uk on 09/10/2010 at 04:01

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We appreciate your acknowledgement of the high standard of care in our Emergency Department; however we have noted your comments that you felt that some of our staff treated you differently due to your age and the time of attendance. We are sorry that you felt that the service you received in this respect did not meet your expectations. The Matron responsible for the Emergency Department has looked at your comments and would be pleased to discuss them further with you. If you would like to do so, you contact our Emergency Department Matron through our Customer Care Manager, Angela Peil 01539 716621.

Should you wish to make a complaint then you can do so by writing to our Chief Executive, Tony Halsall, at: Trust Headquarters, Westmorland General Hospital, Burton Road, Kendal, LA9 7RG.

The Complaints Team and the Chief Executive can be contacted at the address indicated above or by ringing 01539 795 332. More information can be found on our website: http://www.uhmb.nhs.uk

We place great value in the fact that local people continue to choose our hospitals and we openly encourage patients and visitors to give us their feedback. This will enable us to continually improve the services we offer and the experience our patients have whilst in our hospitals. Members of the public can become a Foundation Trust member and be kept updated on developments – sign up for free at: http://www.uhmb.nhs.uk/trust.

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