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Cutting Lidocaine infusion from 5 -8hour to 1-...

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"Cutting Lidocaine infusion from 5 -8hour to 1-..."

About: Russells Hall Hospital

I have had a letter stating that Lidocaine infusions are to be cut from 5 times 8hour infusion to 1 times 3hour.and instead of in patient we are now outpatient . It states that hospitals that do this treatment only do the 1 times 3hr one with patients receiving same pain relief. This I find hard to believe. Maybe the one day patients at other hospitals have only ever known this treatment, whilst Russell Hall patients have been having 6 infusions at one time which is now 5 for many years and the shock of going from 40 hours infusion down to 1 three hour infusion is to much of a shock and will not provide are usual standard of pain relief. I know beds are in short supply because any one is put into A1 no matter what they suffer from and I had to wait pass my admission date until. one became available, so long as I was on the list at least I knew I would be given the treatment that helped me live as normal a life as possible. Last of all the true reason this is happening is money or the lack of it due to what I assume is down to poor management or too many managers.

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Response from Russells Hall Hospital 9 years ago
Russells Hall Hospital

Submitted on 26/01/2015 at 17:14
Published on nhs.uk on 27/01/2015 at 00:00

Thank you for taking the time to let us know about your experience of our hospital. We are sorry that you are unhappy with the new arrangements for your intravenous lignocaine (or lidocaine) treatment. We made this change to make the service better for patients as part of a review of a number of services we offer at Russells Hall Hospital. When we looked at how we compared with other NHS trusts, we found that other centres offered a shorter, but just as effective, three-hour treatment for their patients. To bring us in line with other centres, we decided to move to this new treatment, which meant that, rather than attending for five days as an inpatient with eight hours of infusion treatment each day, patients could have a short, three-hour infusion and return home afterwards. It also meant that we would no longer be forced to rearrange planned treatment due to shortages of beds. We appreciate that the change to your treatment plan may cause you some apprehension, but we can offer you reassurance that the pain consultants have reviewed the process and this change is consistent with lignocaine infusion protocols at other centres in the UK, with no other centre currently offering inpatient IV lignocaine infusions. We can only apologise if you do not feel reassured by the information that you have been sent informing you of the new arrangements. We hope that, having tried the new treatment, you will be satisfied with the results. However, if you feel that the treatment is not as effective, please speak to your consultant or a member of team looking after you. If you prefer, you can contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on freephone 0800 073 0510 who will be happy to do this on your behalf.

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