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Would re-consider getting treatment after waiting...

Story from nhs.uk

"Would re-consider getting treatment after waiting..."

About: Royal Berkshire Hospital

What I liked

the dr/nurse that finally sort us was very helpful and professional

What could be improved

We appreciate the fact that it isn't your fault if there are not enough Drs but there were many many nurses on shift and nobody communicated to the people who had been waiting 3+ hrs (having been told only a 90 minute wait) that there would be an even longer delay because of several ambulance emergencies.

i think communication is key - let people know what is going on, keep them up-to date.

We arrived at 9:55pm and left at 3:30am all for 1 x-ray

Whilst waiting there was a poor woman bent double in pain who was not seen to for over 3 hrs and was only finally taken in when several of us called for the nurses attention

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Responses

Response from Royal Berkshire Hospital 11 years ago
Royal Berkshire Hospital

Submitted on 07/08/2012 at 12:53
Published on nhs.uk on 05/09/2012 at 20:59

We sincerely apologise for the delays in the department and that you were not made aware of the reasons for the delay occurring. During August all our junior doctors change so processes are subject to unfortunate delays while they get used to the new systems of work, but we did have senior medical cover.

On 1 August we re-introduced 'See and Treat' so that patients presenting with minor injuries who do not require pain relief (a choice given at book in by reception staff) are not routinely seen by the assessment nurse so that patients presenting with more major complaints can be seen and assessed more appropriately.

The hours which you attended are in the night shift and we have 10 nurses in total to manage the unit and always allocate a nurse to assess and allocate to the appropriate area to be seen.

For minor injuries we have Emergency Nurse Practitioners working from 8.00am - Midnight which speeds up the process for patients presenting with minor injuries and frees up doctors to see more seriously ill patients.

The matron for the emergency department sincerely apologises for the lack of information in the waiting room on this occasion as clearly it was not adequate. She will reiterate with the teams that communication is key when the department is working very hard to meet the demands put on it.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
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