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Care Opinion

Low low standards

Story from nhs.uk

"Low low standards"

About: Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

I was supposed to be assessed by the Crisis Team, but I left before I was seen because it just became too much to handle. Walking into the Becklin Center I saw a nurse getting out of a taxi, she told the driver it was back to the madhouse and she didnt get paid enough to deal with all the "bleep". This made me feel uncomfortable but I still entered the building. Nurses working in mental health probably should avoid calling their work place the madhouse infront of patients. I waited for 14 min at the reception desk whilst the person behind the desk chatted to a person about what they did over the weekend. They then realised I was waiting and apologised. I was told to sit on one of the chairs in the waiting area. The area patients sit seems to be a busy area for staff as well. I overheard a man tell another woman that someone couldn't come because the doors were electric and they were a jew, then they burst out laughing. Its not funny, I am a scrub nurse and I have had Jewish patients refuse surgery on Thursday,Friday and Saturday to avoid needing to use electricity on Shabatt. Instead of laughing at the patient, they could have done some research and found out that if they opened the door for the patient by walking through it first it might be ok. The final straw was the toilets, I went in and heard someone crying on the phone. They said they hated the place, were bored on the ward, the other patients were mean, and staff took her laptop charger.

All this in the space of 30min, I needed help. I was invited for an assessment...but I just did not feel strong enough to handle the rest of the place. Staff should respect the work place and act professional around patients. Icing on the cake=crisis team did not follow up to find out why I did not attend appointment.

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Responses

Response from Linda Rose, Head of Nursing and Patient Experience, Nursing Professions and Quality, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust 4 years ago
Linda Rose
Head of Nursing and Patient Experience, Nursing Professions and Quality,
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust

Submitted on 24/04/2019 at 11:49
Published on Care Opinion at 13:19

picture of Linda Rose

Hello

Thank you for the feedback in your posting regarding your concerns surrounding the Becklin Centre reception area and the attitude and behaviour of staff when you arrived for your assessment with the crisis service.

This was a disappointing read and I completely understand why you felt unable to stay for your assessment. However, I feel we've really let you down as we did not provide the care and treatment you may have needed and we didn't follow up to see why you didn't attend your appointment. That certainly doesn't send a message to you that we care.

I know that if I am on the receiving end of a service, I want it to do what it says on the tin and I expect the same for others. Whilst our organisational values tell others what behaviours to expect from our staff, what you witnessed regrettably fell well short of those expectations.

The reception entrance and waiting area can be a busy environment frequented by service users, visitors and staff. There will be times due to the nature of the unit that the discussions and actions of others can cause other people in that area distress. Our staff usually pick up on these issues and manage them accordingly.

Reception staff are there to be a welcoming presence. You shouldn't have had to wait for as long as you did to attract their attention and I'm appreciative that they understood that they needed to have a conversation at the time to apologise for their actions.

However, the remark made by the nurse to the taxi driver was completely inappropriate and unprofessional and lacked consideration to the feelings and needs of others. I think your posting is a reminder to all to be more respectful and mindful of their conversations. I will ask the professional lead nurse for the services at the Becklin Centre to circulate your posting and my response as a learning point for the teams.

Most crisis assessments do occur in people’s homes rather than at base and it is unusual for the team not to make contact to establish why you didn’t attend the appointment. I understand that we didn't do a very good job the first time but please could you recontact our single point of access (SPA) to request this.

Please make contact with them on 03003001485.


With kind regards

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