"Terrible. left me depressed."

I am writing in response to concerns you have raised relating to your recent care on Ward 10 at Wansbeck General Hospital. May I first express our sincere apologies for any distress and upset this has caused and to offer our condolences on the loss of your baby. May I also thank you for bringing these concerns to our attention, we really value all comments on our service as this enables us to review the care we deliver and strive to implement changes to improve our service.

I am very sorry that the nurse who met you when you attended the ward appeared not to expect you. This is surprising as there is a diary kept on Ward 10 which contains details of all patients who are due to attend the ward each day for tests and investigations, the nurses should check this diary every morning so that they know which ladies will be attending and which tests are required. It is apparent from the concerns raised that the diary had not been checked and therefore the nurse was not expecting you, we are extremely sorry that this did not occur. As a result of this being raised we have again re iterated to all nursing staff on the ward that they must check the diary daily, to ascertain who is expected and why, so that they can extend a warm welcome to ladies attending the ward and be prepared to undertake any necessary tests and investigations. In response to the nurses comments, unfortunately I cannot identify the nurse from your letter, I would be happy to further investigate if you can supply some more details, however, I have asked the matron to share your concerns with the ward nurses, again please accept my sincere apologies for the insensitive comments that this nurse made.

The responsibility for relaying blood test results rests with the doctor on duty, our practice has been to offer results over the telephone, and we adopted this practice to save ladies either waiting or having to re attend the ward for results. However, as a result of your comments we have recognised that we need to offer ladies a choice as to how they receive their results, so that we can offer ongoing support at such a sad and difficult time. We do have leaflets and information regarding pregnancy loss, and had you been attending the ward for your results the nurses would have discussed and shared these with you. As discussed earlier we have recognised that this is a gap in our service, in future we will ensure that any one receiving such devastating news is given full support and advice verbally and is offered an information leaflet and advised who to contact should any further questions arise.

I would be please to either meet with you or to further investigate any out standing issues you may have, thank you once again for taking the time to write down your thoughts about our service at such a difficult time for you and your family. Please be assured that these changes will be put in place so that in future we can improve the service we offer to ladies who may be in similar circumstances to you. Once again please accept our sincere apologies that the standard of care we delivered, which was below what we would hope to have given.