"Medical Assessment"

We were referred to the Medical Assessment unit in the RAH hospital Paisley, through a GP referral for monitoring, due to test results that showed a decline in kidney function in my geriatric father.

When we arrived, we were triaged through A&E, which to their credit did not take too long, and we were then directed to go to the Medical Assessment unit for observation and review.

When we arrived at the ward, we found a queue of around 10 other patients waiting to be admitted for review. The kind and professional nurse was tending to an already distressed lady, who could not wait any longer and decided it would be in her best interests to leave. To say this was a shock would be an understatement.

I enquired with the nurse after waiting for 20 mins, what the queue times were looking like - even with a GP referral, she informed me the timescale would be over 4 hours before we would be admitted to be monitored.

From here, I had a difficult decision to weigh up - do we sit in the corridor of the ward and wait for review - knowing we had not eaten, would be missing important medication, and sitting for that length of time would worsen our already significant mobility issues? Or do we go home where we can eat, take medication, and we could be warm and comfortable, only to query if things could be done another way...?

It was a difficult decision, but we came to the conclusion that it would be actively detrimental to our wellbeing to attend the hospital, so we had to come home, unreviewed.

The staff shortage seemed a big contributor to the issue. Another issue we experienced that was the cause was a lack of bed resources.

While there, a member of staff went walking around the hospital looking for spare beds / space. It's mind-boggling to think that wards are created equally spaced, resourced, and staffed, when the functional use and the volume of patients being seen are decidedly unequal in nature - and in this case the ward and staff seemed woefully under-provisioned.

The staff themselves were professional, courteous and genuine on how they approached the issue, and with how much they wanted to help - but they don't get the chance to do what they have been hired to do - instead of administering care and nursing, they are instead man-managing a wait list of revolving door care with poor resources and  lack of staff.