"does not meet expectations of children's care..."

Thank you very much for alerting us to your concerns. Our children’s matron acted immediately to look into the issues you raised and the team has reviewed your grandson’s notes and spoken to his mum to discuss the care he received and provide advice on next steps.

Obviously we can’t go into detail here about a particular patient’s care but, in general, it is often less traumatic for young children to be cared for in their home environment if medical treatment is not required. Parents also prefer this so, where it’s considered a safe option, discussions take place between medical staff and parents. In such circumstances, families will be offered ‘open access’ to return to hospital if they have any concerns or their child’s condition changes so they can have further specialist paediatric assessment and care.

You raise very important points about the need for good communication between hospital staff and parents so that families know what’s happening at all stages. You are quite right that we should have communicated better to keep your daughter informed and we are sorry this did not occur. We have discussed this with your daughter and apologised to her. The senior sister is looking at ways of improving communication with families.

We’re also sorry that you found the waiting room too hot. We try to ensure that it is a comfortable temperature but it can sometimes be difficult to get the heating exactly right when the weather changes rapidly, as at the weekend.

We hope you find this response helpful but if you would like to speak to us further about it, please contact Andrea Bliss, Matron for Children's Clinical Service Unit, via 01302 366666.

Thank you very much for alerting us to your concerns. Our children’s matron acted immediately to look into the issues you raised and the team has reviewed your grandson’s notes and spoken to his mum to discuss the care he received and provide advice on next steps.

Obviously we can’t go into detail here about a particular patient’s care but, in general, it is often less traumatic for young children to be cared for in their home environment if medical treatment is not required. Parents also prefer this so, where it’s considered a safe option, discussions take place between medical staff and parents. In such circumstances, families will be offered ‘open access’ to return to hospital if they have any concerns or their child’s condition changes so they can have further specialist paediatric assessment and care.

You raise very important points about the need for good communication between hospital staff and parents so that families know what’s happening at all stages. You are quite right that we should have communicated better to keep your daughter informed and we are sorry this did not occur. We have discussed this with your daughter and apologised to her. The senior sister is looking at ways of improving communication with families.

We’re also sorry that you found the waiting room too hot. We try to ensure that it is a comfortable temperature but it can sometimes be difficult to get the heating exactly right when the weather changes rapidly, as at the weekend.

We hope you find this response helpful but if you would like to speak to us further about it, please contact Andrea Bliss, Matron for Children's Clinical Service Unit, via 01302 366666.