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A lack of compassion in the x-ray dept

Posted By Eloise

"A lack of compassion in the x-ray dept"

About: Southport & Formby District General Hospital / General medicine

(as the patient),

I visited my local hospital some weeks ago, and was really disappointed by the way i was treated.

I was x-rayed by a male member of staff, who was extremely lacking in any communication skills and compassion.

I am disabled and in constant pain.

I am aware that all NHS staff are under tremendous stress, however, a little communication to save a patient further pain and discomfort while taking the x-ray would be very welcomed.

After the films were taken, I felt faint from the amount of pain i was in, and even with seeing my obvious distress, the young man just told me to 'get dressed' then walked away and left me! This was a shock, more so, because in the past i have had nothing but excellent treatment from all staff (including xray) at the hospital.

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Responses

Response from 14 years ago

Submitted on 02/06/2009 at 15:33
Published on Care Opinion at 01:00

Dear Eloise

Firstly I wish to apologise for the way you feel you were treated on your recent visit to our x-ray department. I am sorry that your experience of the radiographer was that they were lacking in compassion and communication skills. All my staff attend the trust customer care training so we do recognise the importance of this aspect of patient care.

Any negative feedback from patients is very important because it ensures that we can continue to fine tune our service and educate staff when they fail the patients in any way. Your comments will be brought to the attention of all staff via the next local brief and they will be reminded of their obligation to always be courteous and helpful towards their patients.

I expect my staff to always help patients to get dressed/undressed when needed. They will usually ask a patient who looks to have difficulties if assistance is required (unfortunately this does not appear to have happened on this occasion) but there is a fine line between being helpful and letting the patient preserve their dignity and independence.

On a more general point, it would be more helpful to us, and ultimately to our patients, if anyone has any concerns for any reason regarding their visit to x-ray they made contact either on the day or soon after the event (preferably via a note in our suggestions box, the trust complaints dept or directly to me or one of my superintendents). I can then properly investigate what happened and who was involved. Unfortunately an anonymous posting on a website weeks later gives us little opportunity to speak directly to the individuals involved.

Martin George

Radiology Manager

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