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"the shameful treatment of my mum"

About: William Harvey Hospital (Ashford)

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My mum was admitted to a&e in the early part of April,she had breathing difficulties,a vicelike pain around her neck and palpitations,she was blind,diabetic and disabled,we were kept waiting in a&e all day for a bed during which time my mum was subjected to the worst treatment i have ever seen,Her blindness was not taken into account whenever they grabbed her arms for blood or to check her blood pressure,she was terrified everytime someone came into the cubicle as no-one thought to tell her what they were doing despite the fact that we had repeatedly told them that mum was blind, when we finally got onto the cdu ward she was manhandled onto a bed with me trying to calm her fears as they were rough and had not told her what they were doing,we waited for a doctor who finally came...he was very rude and sarcastic,he said that all that was wrong with my mum was her tablets,we were not happy about the diagnosis and insisted she stay the night,at which point he threw his arms wide and said in a sarcastic voice why not theres plenty of room!!! my mum was very distressed at that point and wanted to go home as he had made her feel like a nuisance,once home again she continued to be breathless and have palpitations but she would not go back to hospital because of this doctor and the way he made her feel,sadly the following week my mum passed away from cardiac hypertrophy...which have the same symptoms! This doctor upset and frightened my mum he made her feel as though she was a nuisance,all i can ask now is had she gone in before that would she have been saved? I hope that doctor that treated my mum in this awful way will have this on his conscience forever,i will find out his name and i will write personally to him,he might not of been there at my mums death and maybe nothing could have been done but his disgusting attitude frightened and upset her to the point she would not go in,and for that i place my mums death firmly at his door......

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Responses

Response from William Harvey Hospital (Ashford) 10 years ago
William Harvey Hospital (Ashford)
Submitted on 01/05/2013 at 11:02
Published on nhs.uk on 02/05/2013 at 05:15


I am so sorry to hear of your experiences when you visited A&E and CDU with our mum, and disappointed that your mum's experience made her feel that she did not want to return to the hospital. I would also like to offer my sincere condolences at such an upsetting time for you and your family. I would urge that you make contact with us so that we can help you take forward the issues that you have raised as I do think that this is really important to support you. Can I ask that you ring the Patient Experience Team on 01227 783145 and explain to the person who answers the phone that you have been asked to call and ask for Louise or Moira and they will ensure that we speak to you to help you. The officers responsible for answering the phone have been made aware of your concern. I will also log your comments onto our database and provide this to the Lead Nurse, Matron, and lead Consultant responsible for A&E and CDU pending your contact so that they are fully aware of the problems that you experienced to ensure that you feedback is acknowledged and actioned pending contact from you as this is also very important.

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Response from Julie Pearce, Chief Nurse + Director of Quality + Operations, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust 10 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Julie Pearce
Chief Nurse + Director of Quality + Operations,
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

I am responsible for quality improvement which includes patient safety and patient experience

Submitted on 02/05/2013 at 07:13
Published on Care Opinion at 11:19


Thank you for providing feedback and I am very sorry to hear about the attitude of the doctor who saw your mother, this is not an acceptable level of behaviour. This experience must have been very distressing for you and your mother. Please do contact me so that we can follow this through for you, I can be contacted on Julie.Pearce1@nhs.net

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