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Care Opinion

Told we need to make a journey double the length

Posted By AK85AVK

"Told we need to make a journey double the length"

About: Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick children / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

I have unfortunately had to bring my baby to the A&E department (which is the closest to our home) on numerous occasions only to be told we fall outside the Belfast Trust and need to make a journey more than double the length on future occasions as we cannot be admitted to the RBHSC. I feel this as a whole needs to be looked at for all patients.

My son took unwell at the weekend whilst on a day trip to the North Coast & was admitted overnight to a different hospital, we weren’t at any stage advised to put him back in the car and drive to our local hospital. I understand that the RBHSC is the regional children’s hospital but when advised to attend there surely it shouldn’t be such an inconvenience when we do? 

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Responses

Response from Sinead Duffin, Service manager, SPECIALIST HOSPITALS & WOMEN'S HEALTH, Belfast HSC Trust last week
Sinead Duffin
Service manager, SPECIALIST HOSPITALS & WOMEN'S HEALTH,
Belfast HSC Trust

Submitted on 08/05/2024 at 14:32
Published on Care Opinion at 14:32

Hello, my name is Sinead Duffin and I am the Service Manager in RBHSC. Thank you for taking the time to share with us your previous experiences when attending the Emergency Department (ED) in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (RBHSC) with your son.

I appreciate that it can be a distressing time when your child is unwell. Regarding the comments that you have received previously encouraging you to attend the ED in your Trust of residence, I do acknowledge that the team in RBHSC ED will routinely encourage families from other Trust areas to use the ED within their Trust area. This is because, although RBHSC does provide regional services, the Emergency Department there is not a regional service.

The ED in RBHSC has experienced increasing numbers of attendances which has resulted in much longer waiting times for patient assessments and admission to an appropriate bed space. When bed capacity is limited, it is sometimes necessary to transfer a patient from RBHSC to another hospital where there is capacity available, if it has been deemed clinically appropriate to do so. As the Regional District General Hospitals provide excellent paediatric emergency care and inpatient services, and often have bed capacity available, the team in RBHSC ED do encourage parents to attend their local Trusts’ ED in order to avoid the need for a secondary move. There are of course exceptional circumstances, such as, when visiting an area outside of your home Trust.

I hope this response provides some clarity on what services the RBHSC ED provide. I do hope that your son has recovered well.

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