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I felt like a piece of meat not a patient

Story from nhs.uk

"I felt like a piece of meat not a patient"

About: Croydon University Hospital

What I liked

slightly cleaner environment than the old EPU

What could be improved

The EPU has been moved but the hospital maps still display it in it's old situation. There was inadequate sign posting to get to it so we ended up walking all round the hospital. It has been renamed to 'the womens centre' which added to the confusion.

I felt like I was treated like a piece of cattle and merely told 'Their Policy Facts' no decision was made on my individual circumstances.

The triage nurse showed no empathy and offered no reassurance or advice.

We have been given a scan the next day but as I live the other side of the borough this has resulted in having to travel twice when I could have got a referral from my local GP saving having to travel as far twice in two days.

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Responses

Response from Croydon University Hospital 12 years ago
Croydon University Hospital

Submitted on 13/04/2012 at 16:21
Published on nhs.uk on 14/04/2012 at 04:02

Firstly, can we apologise that you were not reassured or given sufficient advice on your visit to the Early Pregnancy Unit.

The staff have noted your comments and are sorry to hear you were unhappy with the care you received. We have “Just a Minute” cards in the unit that women complete on a daily basis and we always score well for customer service, keeping women informed and the environment; so we are very disappointed to learn we didn’t do so well on this occasion.

The “Women’s Unit” is a dedicated unit for women only. We have just had new signage put up around the hospital and, as you point out, it needs changing, a job which is in hand.

EPU is a walk in clinic, therefore we do not accept GP referrals. Women are assessed (called “triage”) when they attend and are scanned according to the urgency of their clinical condition. On occasion this may mean we have to ask someone with a less urgent problem to come back the next day, if there are several urgent cases to be seen.

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