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"Staff need to learn how to treat scared children."

About: Darlington Memorial Hospital

What could be improved

My 7year old daughter is has suspected Crohn's disease. I took her to a&e at darlingtonm as she had been very poorly for a couple of days and thought she should be looked at.We arrived at a&e at arouns 5.30pm at was seen about an hour later for her weight record etc.She then needed to have a prick on her finger to check her blood sugar and another to check something else.She was scared and put up abit of a fight for the nurse to take the blood but she did in the end let her do it.we sat back down and waited for the doctor to check the result and when he came back he said she would have to do it again.only this time he tried to do the prick of blood in the corridoor of a&e.As she stood there again putting up a fight for the doctor to take the blood 2 other staff came round and said to the nurse that had already taken the blood the first time and said "oh this is the 1 you were on about" obviosly she had been having a giggle with her pals at how scared my daughter was.They then took her to a side room where another member of staff was.They tried with the magic spray to try and calm her down to show her it wouldnt hurt.but still she was very scared and crying saying she didnt want them to do it.It was 9pm she was tired,hungery as she had had no tea and was poorly.The nurse that was in the room before we got in decided to take it upon herself to try and calm my daughter daown by shouting at her "snap out of it.You need the doctor to take the blood and stop being like this". Of course this did not work and scared my daughter even more.The nurse soon realised her mistake as she quickly changed her tone and said i should just go to my gp the next day for them to take the blood.when we got home she totally broke down in tears and took alot of comforting.I think this is ridiculous,the doctor should have told the nurse to stop and apologise to my daughter.

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Responses

Response from Darlington Memorial Hospital 12 years ago
Darlington Memorial Hospital
Submitted on 26/03/2012 at 14:13
Published on nhs.uk on 27/03/2012 at 04:01


Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for providing feedback on your daughter's recent visit to the Accident and Emergency Department at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

I am very sorry to hear that you were both unhappy with the experience on this occasion.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss your concerns with you. If you feel this would be useful please contact the Trust’s Patient Experience Team on 0800 7835774. If you would prefer to contact us by e-mail, our address is complaints@cddft.nhs.uk

Alternatively, you can write to us at the following address: -

Patient Experience Team

Darlington Memorial Hospital

Hollyhurst Road

Darlington

County Durham

DL3 6HX

If you do decide to contact us, please make us aware that you have left comments on the NHS Choices website.

The Trust is grateful for all feedback, positive or negative, as it means we can better understand what is important to our patients.

Thank you for leaving your comments on NHS Choices.

Patient Experience Team

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

Tel: 0800 7835774

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