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Nurse laughed at me and disregarded symptoms

Posted By Mumofboyandgirl

"Nurse laughed at me and disregarded symptoms"

About: NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service) NHS Lanarkshire

(as a service user),

I called 111 due to suspecting a miscarriage. The call handler was extremely understanding and compassionate, the clinician on the other hand was not. She laughed at me and stated that my symptoms were completely normal - despite the fact I was in a lot of pain and had passed a huge blood clot. My period was 20 days late also. She told me that I must be over exaggerating the size of the clot and from what she can remember from her periods it was completely normal to pass clots, whilst i do understand it can be normal to pass clots when on your period i do know that the size of clot i had passed was not normal. To laugh at anyone who is experiencing any sort of distress is totally unprofessional and caused me severe distress - especially when i was already anxious due to the situation anyway. 

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Responses

Response from Andrew Cassidy, Patient Experience Officer, Nursing & Care, NHS 24 2 years ago
Andrew Cassidy
Patient Experience Officer, Nursing & Care,
NHS 24

I manage Patient and Service User Feedback

Submitted on 30/12/2021 at 14:11
Published on Care Opinion at 14:11

picture of Andrew Cassidy

Dear Mumofboyandgirl,

Thank you for sharing your story on Care Opinion. I was sorry to read of your experience and appreciate that this will continue to be a difficult time for you and your family.

From what you have shared here, this is not the kind of experience we want for any of our callers, and I would be keen to review your contact with NHS 24 to establish what could have been done differently. I would be very grateful if you would contact me directly at andrew.cassidy@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk and provide me with your details (your name, your date of birth, and your address). This will allow me to identify your call and arrange for it to be reviewed.

Thank you again for sharing your story with us. I look forward to hearing from you with further details and wish you well.

Best wishes,

Andrew

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Response from Andrew Cassidy, Patient Experience Officer, Nursing & Care, NHS 24 2 years ago
Andrew Cassidy
Patient Experience Officer, Nursing & Care,
NHS 24

I manage Patient and Service User Feedback

Submitted on 30/12/2021 at 15:45
Published on Care Opinion at 15:45

picture of Andrew Cassidy

Dear Mumofboyandgirl,

Thank you for contacting me directly and providing your details. As I indicated in my email to you, this will allow me to arrange for senior clinical staff to review your feedback. My colleagues will aim to contact you with the outcome of our review within ten working days.

I would like to thank you again for sharing this story, and wish you well. Should you require any additional information in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Best wishes,

Andrew

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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 12/01/2022 at 20:36
Published on Care Opinion at 20:36

picture of Shona Lawrence

Hi Mumofboyandgirl

I hope you are doing well. Thanks so much for allowing us an opportunity to review your call to 111. This has now been completed and I understand a senior staff member has telephoned you to share our findings. I hope you found that discussion helpful.

It is appreciated that this was a worrying time for you and we are pleased that you shared your experience with us. Our review has identified learning for staff which I can assure you will be taken forward. However, as explained by our senior staff member, there was no evidence, upon listening to the call, that the Nurse laughed or disregarded your symptoms.

We do recognise that your call could have been managed better and we have taken steps to ensure such a situaion does not happen again.

I wish you, and your family, good health for 2022.

Kind regards

Shona

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Update posted by Mumofboyandgirl (a service user)

Hi Shona

yes I did speak with senior staff, I was satisfied until this comment popped up.

I acknowledged that it felt like this nurse laughed at me due to the tone she was using on the phone and I appreciate the learning that will take place - however I do not agree that she did not disregard my symptoms. Your senior member of staff discussed this part with me, I highlighted why I continue to feel this way. No matter what I was experiencing on Christmas Day, I was distressed and this was a traumatic experience for myself and my family not only because of the situation but I also had to leave them twice to be seen by medical professionals.

I am struggling to understand how anyone listening to that call could think she did not disregard the symptoms I was presenting with. She quite clearly told me on the call that I was “exaggerating” the size of my clot which I was not, I have photographs to prove otherwise. She quite clearly told me on the call that it was perfectly normal to pass clots during a normal period (from what she remembered) and like I pointed out, as a qualified nurse and a woman of 35 years … I know what a normal period feels like and I know what a normal period clot looks like - this was not normal, and given the other symptoms I presented with it was quite clearly not a ‘normal’ period. I quite clearly highlighted the extreme pain and also the abnormal blood loss. This call was not dealt with appropriately and I’m very sorry but I am the one who experienced this and I feel that she disregarded what was going on. Your senior staff who called me also felt that she should have had dealt with the outcome in a more appropriate manner also.

I do hope that no other woman going through what I went through has that experience and that by reviewing this and discussing/implementing learning that the nurse who dealt with the call realises the impact her words and the way she delivers advice has had on not only myself but my husband and two children.

I also hope that the call handler who dealt with me before and after talking to the nurse is praised for how well she did respond to the situation as she was very kind and understanding and she was extremely professional throughout this call and I feel that this part needs to be acknowledged also.

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 18/01/2022 at 12:50
Published on Care Opinion at 12:50

picture of Shona Lawrence

Hi Mumofboyandgirl

Thanks for your further post and I note your comments. It is absolutely appreciated that you have described what was a very real experience for you at a traumatic time. I am very sorry for the upset this caused.

At all times, our staff should be fully engaged in what patients are telling them by allowing them time to explain their symptoms and circumstances and we appreciate that, in your call, this was not your experience. We place much focus on staff being sensitive to the needs of patients and it is recognised that your needs were not met during you call. Please be assured that we are currently progressing the learning identified for the staff member involved to avoid such a situation happening again.

Feedback such as yours allows us an opportunity to review and reflect on our service from the patient’s perspective. We do appreciate your experience was less than person-centred and we offer a full apology for this.

Thank you so much for providing positive feedback for the Call Handler. We will ensure this is shared with them.

Should you feel a further discussion or a meeting would be helpful, we would be pleased to arrange this. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if this is something you feel might help. Just a reminder that you can get me on 07814 299944 or by email at Patient.Experience@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk

Thanks again and best wishes to you all.

Kind regards

Shona

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