"Good service from staff but lack of wheelchairs"

I recently attended Accident and Emergency at District hospital mid April.

I have torn a muscle in the back for my leg. I wanted to give you two main pieces of feedback.

Firstly I found the staff that treated me were thoughtful communicative and clear. I was particularly struck by the efficiency clarity care kindness and good communication of a physio called Susie who combined working with me with training a student physio.

I really appreciate that I received quality service and the loan of crutches free at the point of delivery.

My second piece of feedback is about resources for the staff. I had to go from A and E for an ultrasound scan and back and then from A and E to a stairwell for stairs training. I needed pushing in a wheel-chair due to the length of those journeys and the limitations resulting from my injury. There is clearly a shortage of wheel chairs in the hospital since this was an issue on each occasion I needed one. The most striking moment was when Susie the physio who clearly is a very efficient worker spent a considerable amount of time tracking down a wheelchair. She had been forced to cobble one together, scratting around for mismatched foot plates.

So- due to a shortage of wheelchairs- you are paying a skilled member of staff to chase around for equipment  rather than doing what they are trained and skilled at doing - treating patients . This looks from my point of view to be a really short sighted saving on equipment resources that leads to an increase in staffing costs.  More-over it must add stress to their working lives. The staff did not complain they just got on with the job

Sadly the waiting in A and E was also very tedious but that is a bigger matter. Buying a few more wheel chairs is surely more straightforward.