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Care Opinion

Urology referral

Posted By jellybelly

"Urology referral"

About: Aberdeen Royal Infirmary / Urology (Bladder and Urinary problems)

(as the patient),

I arrived for my first urology appointment at Clinic C ahead of my appointment time, 10 minutes early with a full bladder as directed in my referral letter. 

The clinic waiting room was very busy and after waiting for 30 minutes beyond my appointment time my partner enquired at reception the wait to be seen. I was becoming extremely uncomfortable and needing to empty my bladder. Unfortunately we had mistaken my appointment for 10am which was actually 10.30am. I was not informed of our mistake when checking in.

I was ensured that the consultant would be seeing me next and the receptionist apologised that clinic was already running 30 minutes late. A nurse then called my name and repeated the same information, I asked again at this point was I getting an ultrasound or examination as I was becoming desperate to use the toilet, they were not sure and would check for me. We were called another 10 minutes later for my consultation. This was now 11am.

I queried again ultrasound or examination I was very desperate to visit the toilet as we were not gotten back to earlier. I was told I could use the toilet after all and to wait in reception after as they would call someone else through. I felt humiliated as by the time I reached the toilets I had a slight accident.

On using the patient toilets I found out of the two toilets, the first contained no hand soap or hand towels and then second alarmingly unclean. I alerted the receptionist of the problem.

We were called back through and asked why I was referred. I repeated the same information as I had been giving my GP for the last few months. I was told to expect a long wait for ultrasound (spring time) and even longer for cystoscopy. I was prescribed prophylactic antibiotics and told to make an appointment for 4 months time. The consultant was unaware despite looking up laboratory results on Trak Care my culture and screening history.

During the consultation the consultant urologist took a personal phone call to their daughter regarding a school test. They did not excuse themselves and leave the consulting room nor did they apologise for taking a personal call. 

As a fellow health care professional I left my consultation feeling embarrassed and disheartened.

Since my appointment 2 weeks ago I have gratefully received a referral for ultrasound (booked for tomorrow) and cystoscopy in December. 

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Responses

Response from Kirsten Dickson, Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team, NHS Grampian 6 years ago
Kirsten Dickson
Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 07/11/2017 at 17:22
Published on Care Opinion on 08/11/2017 at 13:21

picture of Kirsten Dickson

Dear jellybelly,

Thanks for getting in touch. I’m sorry to hear that your appointment at Clinic C didn’t run as well as it should have and you are right to bring these issues to our attention. I will forward your story to the team at Clinic C for follow up and reflection and will post a response from them as soon as I hear back.

Waiting over an hour to be seen is a long time and would have been extremely uncomfortable with a full bladder, finding out when you were seen that this was unnecessary would have left the most patient of us feeling a little more than slightly frustrated. Your unpleasant experience with the toilets and then the manner of the consultant would have only added to that.

Sometimes patients are asked to repeat information that they have already given to their GP so that the consultant can verify the information that has been detailed in the referral or so that they can form their own opinion from a first hand account. However, I can understand that appointments, where this is the only information exchanged, may seem a little repetitive.

I’m glad to hear that you got your ultrasound and cystoscopy appointments through sooner than expected and I hope you'll be back to full health soon.

I will be in touch again with a response from Clinic C.

Take care,

Kirsten

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Response from Kirsten Dickson, Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team, NHS Grampian 6 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Kirsten Dickson
Quality Improvement and Assurance Facilitator, Quality Improvement and Assurance Team,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 15/11/2017 at 13:42
Published on Care Opinion at 16:15

picture of Kirsten Dickson

Response posted on behalf of Marie Moreton, Acting Senior Charge Nurse (Out Patients, Maxillofacial OPD, ENT OPD, Diabetic OPD)

Dear jellybelly,

Thank you for your feedback it’s really useful for us to know when are not getting things right so that we can look for ways to improve. Your story will be shared and discussed at our staff huddle and we will look into the development of a procedure to be followed for urology patients so that new staff, bank staff and students are aware of the possible effects of leaving a patient sitting for an extended period of time with a full bladder.

I am unsure why the clinic was running late on this occasion – there are often a variety of reasons, but what’s important is that patients are kept informed of any delays and this doesn’t seem to have been the case on this occasion. This will also be discussed with the team.

Thank you for letting the reception staff know about the toilet this couldn’t have been a pleasant discovery for you, but we will now increase our monitoring and we’ll also ensure that supplies of toilet tissue, soap and hand towels are available.

I have emailed our head of service about the issues you reported with the consultant, and on behalf of the service, I would like to apologise for the negative experience. I hope that on reflection, we can improve as a result of your feedback.

Kind Regards,

Marie

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