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Disturbed by treatment of diabetic in A&E

Posted By mosephine

"Disturbed by treatment of diabetic in A&E"

About: Russells Hall Hospital / Accident and emergency

(as a friend),

I took a resident with bad leg, he is diabetic, his last drink was 3 pm. I repeatedly told nurses and doctors but by 10 pm I had to leave but still my resident had nothing but 1 cup of water no food and no insulin.

Bed had dried blood in seams of mattress, and also in joints of bed. Also the cubicle wasn't even given a basic clean like bin being emptied, it was literally overflowing. Doctors and nurses used it so noticed how full it was!

Also no one would give straight answer as to what was happening with the patient, I feel because they wanted me to stay as long as possible.

This was totally disturbing treatment of a vulnerable person. I never want to go back there.

I don't doubt the staff work hard or they were busy, but how long does it take to give a diabetic a drink of tea? If we did that at the home, CQC would close us down for sure.

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Responses

Response from The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 12 years ago
The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 24/11/2011 at 11:12
Published on Care Opinion at 13:02

Thank you for your feedback. We are very disturbed and sorry to hear about your resident’s experience of our Accident and Emergency department.

It is particularly disappointing because of the amount of work we are carrying out to improve the care of inpatients with diabetes. We have implemented new ways of working to ensure inpatients with diabetes are identified by ward staff and seen regularly by specialists. We would expect the same care and attention for patients with diabetes who come into Accident and Emergency.

We will certainly ensure your feedback is relayed to the senior medical team in A&E who will take the matter up with all staff. As you say the Accident and Emergency department is very busy at times but there is no excuse for not providing the highest standards of care to all our patients. We have also taken steps to improve the provision of food and drinks for patients who attend our Accident and Emergency Department.

We must also apologise if there was dried blood on the mattresses. This does not reflect the standards of cleanliness we would wish for our patients and we are committed to ensuring all our staff adhere to infection control policies. We would like to assure our patients that we carry out a number of audits to ensure cleanliness is maintained including weekly cleaning audits, matron rounds and audits of all mattresses every six months. As well as this, we also ensure every mattress is inspected and labelled with a clearly marked inspection date. Nursing staff also clean mattresses between patients.

We will pass on your observations to the A&E matron who will ensure immediate action is taken.

We welcome all feedback and comments are acted upon as part of our ongoing commitment to improving patient care and experience.

If you would like to discuss your concerns in more detail, please contact our Patient

Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on free phone 0800 0730510.

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