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Lack of care for he elderly

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"Lack of care for he elderly"

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My grandmother of 91 was taken my ambulance to A & E. she had been suffering with pneumonia and had trouble breathing. We arrived at 15.30 and had to wait over 40 mins for a cubicle. She was seen by a doctor by 5 and was told she would need to to be seen by the medical team. She was not seen by anybody or spoken to, not offered any drink. A very nice porter got her a cup of tea, this is against any government guidelines!. There is nowhere in this hospital to get a hot drink after 8pm. No snacks nothing. Fortunately I was with her and had to visit the local garage to get her food. There were numerous doctors on desks but nobody was interested in us. Even after asking nurses several times we were still ignored. They said there were emergencies even if this is the case surely this lack of care is not acceptable. She was eventually told at 22.30 she would need to stay in and transferred to a ward so I eventually left her at 23.00. I was aware that several wards had Norovirus but would have thought as they were transferring patients this ward would have been clear but NO. The ward was closed the following day with Novovirus!!!! Unbelievable she was going to be transferred to a special chest ward but is now confined to a short stay ward with a highly contagious virus. They need to get a grip on this and stop people strolling through this hospital. Absolutely disgusting. If your elderly and on your own DO NOT visit this you will be ignored.

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Responses

Response from Princess Royal University Hospital 11 years ago
Princess Royal University Hospital

Submitted on 20/03/2013 at 15:32
Published on nhs.uk on 21/03/2013 at 04:15

We are very sorry for your poor experiences at our A&E. We have been experiencing pressure across the hospital, which has impacted on the department and has led to an increase in waiting times for patients. However, there is no excuse for poor care. Please contact our PALs department on Tel: 01689 863252 or email: slh-tr.br-pals@nhs.net who will be able to look into the specifics of what happened when you attended A&E and respond to you personally and in detail.

The long waits you describe in the department are something that Clinicians and managers of the trust, including our Chief Executive, are aware of. In recent weeks this hospital, along with many others across the country, has had difficulty admitting patients into ward beds in a timely way. This is a complex issue, but if there are more patients needing hospital beds, and/or are staying for longer than the hospital has capacity, patients back-up in A&E, effectively waiting for a bed to become available. This has been a major and widespread issue recently, meaning that A&E has had to accommodate many patients waiting for beds, along with new patients arriving, creating considerable congestion and limiting the available space and staff capacity. This problem has been exacerbated by further temporary bed closures which have been necessary to avoid the risk of norovirus transmission from patients in the hospital with diarrhoea.

Norovirus causes diarrhoea and vomiting. It can spread rapidly, and a ward can be unaffected one day, and closed the next day due to a sudden onset of people with symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting. This Trust does not admit patients to wards closed with diarrhoea and vomiting/Norovirus, unless the admission is due to diarrhoea and vomiting. We follow all the national guidelines, and work very hard to limit the number of visitors to any affected sites.

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