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Care Opinion

No call back

Posted By Satinka

"No call back"

About: Dr Gray's Hospital / Emergency Medicine NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service)

(as a service user),

I telephoned nhs 24 after a fall and waited 4 hours for a call back from the A&E dept which never happened. In pain with a hip injury I then attended the dept, and waited another 4 hours to be seen. The staff member I spoke to at Dr Grays A&E dept in Elgin put me in the system as a walk in and so I went to the back of the queue, despite the fact that I had called nhs 24, and was in considerable pain.

A walk in patient was given immediate attention for a dental problem, even though I believe this was against the protocol, and ignored my several requests that I was in pain. The pain and the long wait in a waiting room left me extremely agitated, not to mention what in my opinion, was the preferential treatment that I witnessed. I had expected pain to be a triage factor, and had followed correct procedure by first calling nhs 24, unlike the several other walk in patients. The whole experience was frustrating and distressing. Protocols should be stuck too. 

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Responses

Response from Shona Lawrence, Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care, NHS 24 2 years ago
Shona Lawrence
Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care,
NHS 24

Submitted on 14/09/2021 at 10:23
Published on Care Opinion at 10:23

picture of Shona Lawrence

Dear Satinka

Thank you for sharing your experience on Care Opinion. I’m so sorry to learn you fell and I hope you are doing much better.

From what you have shared, I can absolutely understand your frustration. The service you received at Dr Grays is best responded to by NHS Grampian.

I note you did the absolutely right thing in making contact with NHS 24 in the first instance instead of attending directly at A&E. It looks as though the delay in you receiving a call back would also need to be explored by NHS Grampian as when NHS 24 considers a patient requires a face to face assessment, their details are passed by us to their local Health Board who would then call the patient back with the location and time to attend.

However, if helpful, we could arrange a review of your contact with us just to assure you and ourselves that all was managed appropriately our end. With some additional detail from you, I would be pleased to arrange this. You can contact me on 07814 299944 or by email at patient.experience@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk

Thanks again and I wish you a full and speedy recovery.

Shona

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Update posted by Satinka (a service user)

Thank you for your reply.

I am still unable to walk without pain, further investigations have been conducted by my GP and I am hoping for a follow up CT or MRI scan of my hip joint.

I did not have a hip fracture, but could have, I could have had undiagnosed bony metastasis, any number of possible scenarios. I could have called an ambulance. During the 4 hours I spent in the A&E waiting room, (having been entered on the system as a walk in despite my previous 4 hour wait after calling NHS 24), I was in obvious pain and seated directly opposite the receptionist's window. There was also an elderly lady there for 2 hours with palpitations, who was not seated in view and I wonder who would have noticed if her condition deteriorated.

The NHS triage process that happens prior to being in the A&E waiting room can happen hours earlier, 4 hours in my case. Once in the waiting room it seems that during that wait there is no ongoing triage and another 4 hours is a considerable time period if a patient were deteriorating, or suffering.

Many thanks for your consideration of these issues.

Response from Shona Lawrence, Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care, NHS 24 2 years ago
Shona Lawrence
Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care,
NHS 24

Submitted on 15/09/2021 at 17:10
Published on Care Opinion at 17:10

picture of Shona Lawrence

Dear Satinka

Thanks for your response. I'm sorry to learn of your continued pain which sounds hugely debilitating. However, I am pleased to learn your hip wasnt' fractured.

I note you also contacted me directly via my email address. Thanks for doing that. I have responded to you by email and I hope you find the information I have provided helpful.

Take care meantime

Kind regards

Shona

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Response from Louise Pearson, Unit Operational Manager, Women & Children's Services, Dr Gray's, NHS Grampian 2 years ago
Louise Pearson
Unit Operational Manager, Women & Children's Services, Dr Gray's,
NHS Grampian

Submitted on 15/09/2021 at 17:41
Published on Care Opinion at 17:41

picture of Louise Pearson

Dear Satinka,

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience of our triage process and Emergency Department. The department was extremely busy yesterday and the clinical team were working hard to prioritise care based on clinical need. I appreciate that this didn't meet your expectations and I'm sorry to hear about your ongoing pain.

In order to look into this in more detail please can you contact me via our feedback service by emailing gram.nhsgrampianfeedback@nhs.scot or calling 0345 337 6338.

Many thanks,

Louise

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