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Lack of care and communication

Story from nhs.uk

"Lack of care and communication"

About: Southmead Hospital / General surgery

I am absolutely appalled by the lack of care and communication on the Surgical ward

My sister in law as been waiting for a scan since 9am this morning and at 7.30 pm she was told that if she had not gone down by 8pm she can have a hot drink and food. Well it's now 9.30pm and the nurse who inform us that she will be fed has now finished duty gone home and we are still waiting .I had my dog at the vets recently and had far better communication and care than what my sister in law is experiencing at this moment in time .Due to her condition she had not eaten for 3days prior to going into the hospiat(the staff were fully aware that she had not eaten).What do you have to do to get some care? The staff seem not to be part of the solution, they are actually the problem!

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Responses

Response from Southmead Hospital 7 years ago
Southmead Hospital

Submitted on 13/10/2016 at 16:33
Published on nhs.uk on 14/10/2016 at 02:30

Dear Mrs Cherry-Guard – thank you for taking the time and trouble to provide us details of your sister-in-law’s experience on the surgical ward at Southmead. I was sorry to hear of her extended wait for a scan and that the communication you both received was so poor. I am afraid I do not have the information to be able to trace your sister-in-law’s details and so I cannot comment specifically on her experience.

However, I do agree that the communication was not of the standard I would expect and that we would aspire to.

Regrettably, it is sometimes the case that scans are delayed, for reasons of priority due to emergencies, cancer cases and patients who are prioritised due to the severity of their illness; this can sometimes be for an extended period.

I apologise if the duty nurse did not appropriately hand over your sister-in-law’s care to the night team, or if as might be the case, they were still hoping your sister-in-law would be seen. Clearly, the night team should have advised of the reason for the delay, checked on the latest position and given your sister-in-law the option of having some food and waiting until the next day for her scan.

I very much regret that this unacceptable lack of communication added to your sister-in-law’s distress at what is always an anxious time and that you were also affected by this situation.

Please be assured I have shared your comments with the Surgical Ward Management Team to ensure that lessons are learned.

Kind Regards – Steve Sykes

Advice and Complaints Team

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