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I have had a few trips to this ...

Story from nhs.uk

"I have had a few trips to this ..."

About: Macclesfield District General Hospital / Accident and emergency

(as the patient),

What I liked

I have had a few trips to this A/E department which have been unfortunate. My sister who is now dead went in one time and she was shunted from pillar to post and eventually after 24hrs arrived in a ward within the hospital and THEN she got some care and attention. I too, on 2 occasions, was in a mixed sex ward - the only female in a the company walking around in various states of underware. I did have fabulous care in the endoscopy unit who care was exceptional. Thanks very much to them please.

What could be improved

Cleanliness needs a lot of attention.

Physical help for an aging patient would have been appreciated.

Car parking is impossible.

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Responses

Response from Macclesfield District General Hospital 15 years ago
Macclesfield District General Hospital

Submitted on 20/05/2008 at 18:08
Published on nhs.uk on 17/07/2008 at 09:30

We are very sorry to hear that you have not had a good experience when visiting our A&E department. Staff in the A&E department work very hard to ensure that patients are seen and treated as quickly as possible and by the appropriate person. Standards have been continually improving in recent years with the introduction of the target for all patients to be seen within 4 hours. The A&E department is currently relaunching initiatives to improve the patient experience. We are continually reassessing to see how we can deliver higher standards of care.

One particular project will look at how we can ensure that the process of transferring patients to the wards runs smoothly for the patient. This should ensure that patients do not have to be moved from different areas within the department.

The other issues you have raised in your comment above are also being addressed by the Trust and are amongst the top priorities.

Various initiatives are in place to monitor and improve cleanliness on Trust premesis. These include a ‘Deep Clean’ on one ward per month; a monthly cleanliness survey carried out on all wards; and the installation of handwashing basins at ward entrances for the use of staff, patients and visitors.

The Trust complies with Department of Health guidelines on mixed sex accommodation. However, (in keeping with these guidelines) in some cases mixing of sexes is unavoidable; for example in emergency short stay areas and in wards using highly specialised equipment. Recently the Trust has improved on this: the Medical Assessment Unit no longer accepts the mixing of sexes unless there is extreme pressure on beds. In these rare cases the mixing of male and female patients is monitored and staff are required to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

A new Trust Travel Plan has been launched with the primary aim of reducing congestion on hospital car parks. Staff are encouraged not to park their cars on site unless absolutely necessary, and some staff parking has been moved off-site.

The matter of improving help for elderly patients in hospital is being looked at. We are also focusing on providing more help for those patients who have difficulty eating and drinking.

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