"Overall very good, but a couple of concerns for..."

Anything else?

I was recently an inpatient at the RVI for a surgical procedure. Cleanliness and staff attitude were faultless, but I would like to flag-up a couple of issues I suggest nursing managers need to look at. I was reluctant to mention at the time as I did not want the actual people involved to become the sole target, as I believe, from woking in a very similar field myself, that the problems are undoubtedly part of the custom and culture of the clinical practice in those areas and one does not wish to start a witch-hunt, which would not really be productive in addressing the problem. My first concern was that when my pre-theatre bloods were taken, the blood sample bottles had been pre-labelled/written before the person came to me to take the blood. This included a sample for group and save which must be filled in at the bedside once the blood has been taken and never done in advance. The person taking my blood did not appear to understand this. My second concern was that when in recovery, I was given intravenous morphine, but that the syringe was not asked to be checked by another health care professional against my wrist label until after the morpine had been given. I do understand how sometimes these things can happen and have certainly seen similar practice elswhere, but perhaps a 'refresher' to the staff as to what should be the correct processes would be in order?