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Concerned about continuity of care

Posted By stessedhealthcarer

"Concerned about continuity of care"

About: Rotherham Hospital

(as a staff member),

As a healthcare worker at Rotherham hospital, I am increasingly concerned about the standards of quality care.

Due to bed closures patients are being constantly moved throughout their stay which I feel results in disjointed medical and nursing care.

The most frustrating thing is they tend to be older patients who really need a stable consistent level of quality care.

In a time savings need to be made I am convinced this continual movement of patients results in increasing lengths of stay and patients not getting the care they need and deserve.

Senior management aren't there to explain to disgruntled patients and visitors why their loved one has been moved for the 5th time - it's left to already stressed and overstretched ward staff!

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Responses

Response from Rebecca Allinson, Associate Director, Corporate Relations, Rotherham Hospital 12 years ago
Rebecca Allinson
Associate Director, Corporate Relations,
Rotherham Hospital

Submitted on 20/07/2011 at 17:05
Published on Care Opinion at 22:19

Dear stressedhealthcarer,

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention and whilst we always encourage all colleagues to be vigilant regarding standards of care and to report any concerns, we are really disappointed that you felt unable to escalate your concerns using the appropriate channels within the hospital and I would urge you to do so as soon as possible, including details about how you may have tried to raise concerns before, to whom and to what effect.

You should be assured that we are undertaking work to make sure no-one stays in hospital longer than they need to however the consistency of anyone’s care is heavily reliant on how a patients needs and goals are documented and communicated between health professionals.

It would be inappropriate for me to go into the details of your concerns in this forum but as you have raised it, I can confirm that we last ‘closed’ funded beds as part of a planned reconfiguration and this work should all be completed by this September. Since Spring we have not experienced the usual seasonal decrease on admissions which has also required us to open extra beds to accommodate them – often at short notice – and we have to rely on our colleagues to communicate such moves with patients and families and to explain that such moves are never made lightly. I am aware that on occasions senior management have also proactively made themselves available to support this process and are always there to support staff if they are made aware of issues.

As I said at the beginning, it is disappointing you chose to air your concerns this way but I hope this response will allay some of your concerns and I would encourage you to talk to your line manager in the first instance and, if that is not possible, to highlight your concerns to another appropriate manager.

With best wishes

Rebecca

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