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"Distressing experience"

About: Manchester Royal Infirmary

I visited yesterday after being referred by my GP suffering from a large painful abscess which required further treatment. I was seen quickly by the Triage Nurse after which there was zero communication and it all went wrong. I don't mind waiting, hours and hours if I have to I'm not a regular visitor and have never walked out or felt I had to before I was offered pain relief straight away which was good only for it not to arrive and having to ask twice after 2 hours for it. The condition is extremely painful, I was left sat on a metal chair (there are no others) for the 5 and a half hours I was there during which time I had no update whatsoever on what was happening. You had to it seemed just grab any nurse passing if you wanted to ask and they all seemed so busy you didn't want to. My abscess finally ruptured in the public toilets, I cleaned myself the best I could and the tried to find a nurse, I was met with locked doors and no one in sight. My choice was to advise reception staff in a full waiting room which I really didn't want to do. The place was filthy floors were black from weeks of not being cleaned and the crevices hadn't seen cleaning for a long time, that was obvious. Finding myself alone in a dirty toilet I felt I'd be better of at home. I left went to the chemist for antiseptic and went home. No one contacted me to find out where I was or if I was ok. I know they're busy but they knew my situation and what could happen, I couldn't sit down I couldn't walk around because of the pain. I've worked in prisons where inmates have conifer chairs, this waiting area is for people who are sick. I'm not sure the problem is resolved if I have to go back today it will not be to the MRI. their wish to have a patient centred approach is a joke. They lacked any empathy at all in just making sure you were ok during such a long wait.

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Responses

Response from Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust 9 years ago
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Submitted on 13/06/2014 at 11:35
Published on Care Opinion at 12:30


Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to learn that your experience on 22/05/14 was not as positive as we would have expected. It is important to us that comments made by patients and relatives are heard and seen as an opportunity to make changes and improvements wherever possible.

In response to your comment regarding pain relief, you should have been administered analgesia as soon as you raised this with staff and we apologise that you were left for two hours as this not acceptable. Administration of analgesia is part of the triage process and we will be reiterating this to all staff to ensure this does not happen to other patients.

It is also unacceptable that you were left for a long time in the waiting area, in pain and not kept updated. The Matron for ED will raise these issues with all the staff at morning handover in order to ensure that lessons are learned.

I am sorry that you could not find a nurse to assist you when you were in this distressed state.

As for your concerns regarding the public toilets, they are cleaned regularly and have a monitoring form to ensure compliance. We have quite recently redecorated these toilets and undertaken minor repairs but the level of usage means that they can be damaged or become unclean between checks. We will continue to monitor them on a regular basis.

Once again we apologise for the unsatisfactory experience you had and we would be happy to discuss further with you. If you contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service again on 0161 276 8686 or by e-mailing pals@cmft.nhs.uk they will be happy to discuss this with you and we will arrange for you to be contacted.

The Patient Experience Team

Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

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