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Unhelpful

Story from nhs.uk

"Unhelpful"

About: Royal Bournemouth General Hospital

My partner was having a scan and she is nervous of hospitals.

The person who called her in asked I remain in the waiting room.

My partner asked if I could come with her as she is nervous.

The staff member visibly rolled their eyes, huffed and then turned away and led us in.

The impression they gave was that there was a problem with me accompanying my partner into the room.

The rest of the appointment went well. The person performing the scan was not the same as who had called us in. They were friendly and professional.

The other staff member could learn from them!

It should be noted that we are a same sex couple, and my partner referred to me as being her partner. I hope that the staff member in question was just having a bad day and their reaction was not due to us being a same sex couple.

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Responses

Response from Royal Bournemouth General Hospital 7 years ago
Royal Bournemouth General Hospital

Submitted on 01/06/2016 at 13:01
Published on nhs.uk on 02/06/2016 at 02:30

Dear Jacqui

Thank you for your posting and I am sorry that you did not both receive an appropriate welcome, even for a scan, which as you note can be a time of anxiety.

As a Trust we are genuinely committed to being respectful to all and every diversity, treating all our patients and their family with dignity and respect and consider ourselves to be a leading trust on equality. I truly hope that you are correct and this was a case of a “bad day” as you note. We have worked well recently with LGBT Dorset network and even produced videos for staff training so we are committed to improving our service for all. So this is disappointing feedback to receive, I will signpost this to their manager and highlight the efforts and work we have done recently.

I hope that if either of you return to the Trust you will have a more positive experience such as the staff member in the scan room.

Thank you again

Regards

Sue Mellor

Head of Patient Engagement

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