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No suitable chairs for elderly in A&E

Story from nhs.uk

"No suitable chairs for elderly in A&E"

About: Derriford Hospital / Accident and emergency

I was referred to A&E by my GP for a brain scan.

I have balance and mobility difficulties which makes getting out of chairs very difficult unless they have arms.

Despite my asking not one such chair was available in the dept and so had no alternative but to sit on one of the metal benches in the main waiting area. Consequently I was stuck and had to suffer that indignity in front of everyone and then had to swivel into a wheelchair so that I could move into the next area but still , for me, no appropriate chairs but at least I was able to stay in the wheelchair.

It was not until I was in the Clinical Decision unit about four hours later that there were suitable chairs.

I had to attend the Dept on my own because of my home situation, arrived at 12.30pm and finally left the Dept at 8.30 pm.

Although I had expected A&E to be busy, I never thought I would be there for eight hours and think myself lucky to have been given a cup of tea and biscuit in the CD unit.

If I have to do that again I will carry provisions for a long journey into the unknown but would prefer to avoid.

I was shocked at the lack of respect and provision for elderly with seating requirements.

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Responses

Response from Derriford Hospital 4 years ago
Derriford Hospital

Submitted on 18/09/2019 at 08:09
Published on nhs.uk at 11:06

Fiona Veale, Lead Nurse in ED, has responded to say:

Dear Sir / Madam,

Thank you for your recent feedback with regards to your attendance to the department, I am sorry to hear that you had difficulty with our seating within the department unfortunately we don’t have ward chairs for patients in the department currently, like a ward area. We do have three specific specialist chairs which can be used for patients with difficulties that can electronically recline and have wheels so can be used to mobilise patients around the department but these are frequently in use in the majors area. I will pass on your feedback to the team leading the new build of the department.

When people attend the department with certain conditions and are awaiting investigations i.e. scans we keep them nil by mouth until reports have come back otherwise this may delay further interventions.

As a department we are more than happy to discuss this further so please do not hesitate to contact PALS and we can arrange to talk over the phone or set up a meeting.

Should you wish us to investigate your concerns in more detail, please contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service on 01752 439884. Alternatively, please email the team at: plh-tr.PALS@nhs.net

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