"Patient Journey"

Unfortunately my patient journey turned out to be completely the opposite second time around. My first patient journey a few months earlier was excellent so I wrote to inform them of the wonderful care I had received & highlighted some members of staff in particular. 

In light of the second experience, I thought I would bring to your attention the various shortfalls & omissions during my stay at Day Surgery.

I arrived at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in advance of my 8am admission. Not long after 8am a Health Care Assistant greeted me & walked me to an area with changing cubicles & some chairs. This walk through cubicle corridor also contained 2 toilets (standard & wheelchair). I spent most of the time prior to my operation sitting in this corridor area with a television on full volume.

During my 3+ hours wait prior to my operation I was taken away briefly for two short interviews with an anesthetist & nurse. My consultant & other doctors however conducted interviews in the waiting corridor area along side the other patients.

Following my operation I woke up in the recovery room (around 12.30pm) where I remained until approx. 3.45pm, as there was no bed for me in the Day Surgery female ward. Not long after I awoke my consultant came to see me & provided verbal feedback on my operation outcome. During my entire time in recovery I had blood pressure taken every 15 mins: eventually after several hours I requested if this could be reduced to every 30 mins.

In light of previous knowledge gained following my first cataract operation I enquired from the nurse as to why I had not been given medication for reducing eye pressure. My consultant had previously mentioned that I would be given one tablet at 2pm & to take another at 8pm the same day.

Nurse in the recovery ward informed me that there was nothing in my notes to indicate I required the medication. It was only after repeated requests were made was the medication provided around 3pm (one hour late). As the medication was not available on the recovery ward a request was made to Day Surgery ward for this provision.

Eventually around 3.45pm a nurse from Day Surgery female ward arrived & asked me to walk with them as by now I was fully dressed. I asked them to carry my bag & they walked me to the same corridor waiting area where I had been for 3+ hours that morning. I asked the nurse to please find my husband whom I suspected was waiting for me at reception. My husband joined me in the waiting corridor & the nurse left to find out about my discharge.

Nurse returned to advise that my prescription had just been sent to pharmacy so they suggested I leave the unit & return in approx. one hour (around 5pm).

We returned to Day Surgery just prior to 5pm & I received a plastic bag containing box of eye drops & one tablet plus letter for GP. I enquired as to why I had not been given other eye drops & informed that they had not been ordered. Also mentioned to nurse that there was no post op cataract advice sheet provided or immediate patient discharge letter. This is valuable information especially if I had any problems over the weekend. Nurse left & eventually returned to advise the other eye drops had now been ordered from pharmacy but that would take a further hour wait. This time my husband & I remained in the waiting corridor area.

Eventually around 5.45pm nurse returned with the drops, however there was no post-op cataract advice sheet but I was given pharmacy copy of the patient immediate discharge (provisional) letter. During this period I was made to feel that as a patient I should accept what nursing staff say & not question the facts.

Finally I was discharged almost 10 hours after admission. This is not the kind of patient journey I would wish on anyone so I hope by sharing this story that lessons can be learned.

Communication during my first cataract operation was excellent however second time around it was inadequate. When my husband called the ward twice as instructed he was informed that I was still in recovery & no reason given. Needless to say by mid afternoon my husband had become concerned so decided to return to the hospital as we live some distance away. On arrival the receptionist phoned nursing staff & suggested to my husband that he sit in the comfortable waiting room down the corridor. This was where the nurse located my husband when I requested that he join me in the waiting corridor area.

I hope by sharing my story that my experience will not be repeated & that future patients will be given the excellent care I received first time around. I appreciate the level of nursing staff plus lack of bed availability on the day was perhaps lower than required for the number of patients being processed however it felt to me that patient care at times was being compromised.