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marital status

Story from nhs.uk

"marital status"

About: Chesterfield Royal Hospital

I took my mum to the eye department of the hospital and thought the care she received was excellent, the staff were very kind, caring and explained everything.

There was just one comment and question that I would like to share. When we went to reception, mum was as usual and expected, asked her name, address and date of birth. She was then asked if she was married, we were both taken aback by this and as mum was widowed 3 years ago, it momentarily threw her and she didn't know what to say

Is this at all relevant and necessary? It did upset mum and she is 3 years on but what if someone was recently bereaved or separated?

I do want to emphasize that the care was really good but thought I would share this.

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Responses

Response from Chesterfield Royal Hospital 8 years ago
Chesterfield Royal Hospital

Submitted on 16/11/2015 at 14:47
Published on nhs.uk on 17/11/2015 at 01:30

Thank you for your comments.

Firstly, I'm pleased that your Mum had great care in the eye centre.

I'm really sorry that the experience at the end of the visit marred this a little, which I'm sure wan't intentional but nevertheless was difficult for your Mum.

I can only presume this information was missing from your Mum's records and was perhaps related to establishing next-of-kin, but I'm honestly not certain.

What I can do though is pass on the comment, to make our teams aware how this sort of query could impact on someone.

It's perhaps about just having a little more awareness, for instance 'would you mind me checking some details and could I ask about your marital status?' - which is perhaps a little less direct and offers a bit more explanation.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Best wishes Sarah Turner-Saint, head of communications

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