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If I have not been ill, it would have been like staying in a...

Posted By empathywq36

"If I have not been ill, it would have been like staying in a hotel"

About: Borders General Hospital / Respiratory Medicine

(as the patient),

I phoned NHS 24 as I was having difficulty breathing and have not been feeling well for a few days. They sent an ambulance with two paramedics, who they gave me a nebuliser and oxygen and took me too Borders General Hospital A&E. I was admitted to hospital and was kept in for 5 nights.

I just wanted to say that everyone I came into contact with was fantastic. All the staff were friendly and empathetic. If I have not been ill, it would have been like staying in a hotel!

The food was good and there was always a good choice.

I think most people are quick to complain so I wanted to highlight all the good work the staff did. The A&E nurses were friendly and reassuring as I was admitted on my own. I was shuffled about between wards during my stay (understandably, the hospital had a bed shortage and is under a lot of pressure) but all the staff I met were amazing. It was a stressful time, I was scared and nervous and they couldn’t have been nicer. Everything was explained to me and on every ward I was on patients were saying how fantastic the staff were.

I only have one recommendation, I found the Care Opinion card in the discharge lounge when I was waiting for a friend to pick me up (it was lunch time and I was even give lunch and tea and coffee whilst I waited, but is was under a stock of other materials. It would be nice if it was more visible.

There were two other ladies waiting in the lounge and I gave them both a card as they also wanted to feedback their good experiences. This is not a criticism, but I wonder if these cards could be made more available? They could be put on the patient’s bedsides or patients could be given as leaflet as part of their discharge when they get their mediation etc. I think lots of people would have nice things to say and it would be good to give them the opportunity to do this, especially at a time when the NHS is struggling.

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Responses

Response from Lynn McCallum, Medical Director, NHS Borders 6 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Lynn McCallum
Medical Director,
NHS Borders

Along with the Director of Nursing, we are collectively responsible for the clinical care delivered within NHS Borders.

Submitted on 18/01/2018 at 12:57
Published on Care Opinion at 15:28

picture of Lynn McCallum

Dear empathywq36,

Thank you so much for taking the time to feed back to us about your recent stay at the Borders General Hospital! I'm sorry that you required hospital care in the first place but am very glad that your stay was as positive an experience as it could be!

Our staff work incredibly hard to try to deliver high quality care at all times and this has been particularly evident over a very difficult winter! I'm sorry that you had a number of ward moves - as you have correctly identified, this is due to great pressures on medical beds due to the sheer volume of unwell patients that we have had to look after! However, I was really delighted to hear that your care was of a high standard in every area and that you felt well informed throughout!

In relation to feedback, we launched the use of Care Opinion in NHS Borders in the middle of last year and are currently working through a number of ways to let patients know about it. The main focus of this has been in our Medical Assessment Unit (Ward 6) where patients are given a leaflet on admission outlining how to use Care opinion and inviting them to tell us of their experience. Unfortunately, these leaflets do go missing and are on occasion not handed out. However, I hadn't thought about the Discharge Lounge and think that it is an excellent idea to highlight the process there as well. One of the things I love most about Care Opinion is that it offers the opportunity for patients to drive changes within their healthcare setting! I will therefore plan to implement change within our Discharge Lounge in order to facilitate patients knowing all about Care Opinion and how to use it!

Once again, I'd like to thank you for telling us of your experience and for giving us a great idea as to how we can raise awareness for other patients to do the same!

With best wishes,

Lynn

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Response from Lynn McCallum, Medical Director, NHS Borders 6 years ago
We have made a change
Lynn McCallum
Medical Director,
NHS Borders

Along with the Director of Nursing, we are collectively responsible for the clinical care delivered within NHS Borders.

Submitted on 29/01/2018 at 14:22
Published on Care Opinion at 14:25

picture of Lynn McCallum

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Dear empathywq36,

Further to the planned change above, I am delighted to tell you that we have now had a walk around our discharge lounge and have made some changes which will hopefully make our invitation to patients to use Care Opinion much more obvious! We have placed a pull down banner within the lounge and have put leaflets in a more prominent position where hopefully nothing will be put on top of them! We have also made our discharge lounge nurses aware of your kind comments and I know that they were very grateful to read your review! I've attached some photographs so that you can see the changes we have made! Thank you once again for taking the time to tell us of your experience and indeed for highlighting this idea which has led to a very positive change!

With best wishes,

Lynn

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