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Care Opinion

appalling.

Story from nhs.uk

"appalling."

About: North Tyneside General Hospital

What I liked

absolutely nothing.

What could be improved

Warning - This A&E department has an extremely poor attitude to dementia patients. My elderly mother was abandoned in a box room with no fluids (she was dehydrated) no decent chair trolley/bed (she is blind) and no medication or pain relief (basic human right).

We coped with this for four hours before I finally broke down in tears and started to leave the premises with her.

I completely understand that there is a waiting list, but to expect someone with such an advanced condition to cope with that situation is barbaric. This shouldn't happen in a so called civilised society.

Appalled.

The Emergency Care Unit was just as unaware about how to manage a dementia patient.

Anything else?

I'll bet if the staff had had to try and keep my mother calm for four hours, they would have found some appropriate medication a bit quicker.

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Responses

Response from North Tyneside General Hospital 11 years ago
North Tyneside General Hospital

Submitted on 07/06/2012 at 13:40
Published on nhs.uk on 08/06/2012 at 04:01

Thank you for your comments posted on this website concerning your experiences in the Accident and Emergency Department at North Tyneside General Hospital.

The Trust was sorry to hear of your experiences and would like to apologise for any distress this caused you or your mother. We have been advised that the staff in Accident and Emergency triage children, elderly, dementia patients and people with learning difficulties as a priority. However, on occasions some clinical conditions would take priority due to their seriousness. Staff should have communicated any problems being encountered within the department to you which does not seem to have happened. Please accept our apologies for this oversight and be assured that we will remind all staff about the timeliness of keeping patients and carers informed. The Accident and Emergency Department have trained some staff in caring for dementia patients and this will continue so that all staff will attend this training.

If you would like to write to the Trust formally we will conduct a full investigation into your concerns and write to you personally with the outcome of the investigation. The address for your letter is:

Patient Services

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Northumbria House

Cobalt Business Park

Unit 7/8

Silver Fox Way

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE27 0QJ

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