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"A&E nurse stuck plaster to raw wound"

About: Macclesfield District General Hospital / Accident and emergency

I visited the A&E this past Monday as I had cut my finger badly in the kitchen, leaving a raw bleeding wound that I didn't feel I had adequate equipment to treat at home. I waited for 2 hours in A&E (I felt lucky considering other people had been waiting much longer) in a considerable amount of pain and was then seen by the minor injuries nurse. She took a very brief look, not close up, and said 'Oh that will be fine, it'll heal quickly'. She then dabbed a bit of water on it, no disinfectant, and proceeded to stick a plaster over the very raw flesh wound. This was painful enough but nothing even close to when I tried to get the plaster off 2 days later, as she had advised. After soaking it for 30 minutes, I cut as much off as possible but realised that the bit of the plaster over the wound was solidly stuck on, fused to the flesh. I consulted the internet and a friend who is a doctor, and on her advice tried using olive oil to loosen the plaster, to no avail. She then told me I would just have to pull it off, as the wound would not heal otherwise. Prying this firmly stuck piece of plaster off the very raw flesh of my wound was incredibly painful, much worse than the original accident - like pulling a piece of your own skin and flesh off. I am absolutely furious and appalled that the nurse made me put myself through this agony by not bothering to properly inspect the wound and apply gauze underneath a plaster, which is standard medical practice with an open flesh wound. I could have stuck a plaster on it myself at home if it was not proper medical care I had wanted. The treatment I received was cursory and inadequate and caused me pain more serious than the actual accident.

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Responses

Response from Macclesfield District General Hospital 5 years ago
Macclesfield District General Hospital
Submitted on 17/05/2018 at 16:48
Published on nhs.uk at 17:06


We were very disappointed and sorry to read your comments. Senior A&E Sister Fiona Owen is personally aware of your concerns and would very much like to discuss them with you.

Fiona can be contacted by telephoning 01625 661894 or by email via fiona.owen@nhs.net

The trust aims to continually improve the quality of services we provide and your feedback is key to achieving this.

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