Care Opinion

Fantastic care -even with extreme stress due to workload

Posted By DDebby

"Fantastic care -even with extreme stress due to workload"

About: Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance University Hospital Hairmyres / Emergency Department University Hospital Hairmyres / Medical Assessment Unit University Hospital Hairmyres / Surgical Receiving Unit (Ward 4)

(as a staff member posting for a patient/service user),

My dad has been admitted twice by ambulance through A&E and then into medical receiving ward 4 twice in the last few weeks due to his deteriorating health. From the ambulance staff to the A&E staff, then A&E medical assessment unit and then ward 4 staff, the care he has had has been outstanding. 

Thank you to the ambulance staff who let my mum sit with them in the ambulance for 5hrs while they were in a queue of 10 ambulances waiting to be admitted through A&E, such a shame for the paramedics, they want to be getting their patients admitted and get back on the road to help others and due to the high volume of patients in A&E and the lack of available beds in the receiving wards they can't.

Theresa in A&E who was working a bank shift who normally works in the Cath Lab, thank you so much for looking after my mum and dad so well. 

ALL the staff are really working under immense strain and pressure to try and keep the operation running as quickly as they can without affecting patient care, an extremely difficult job for all the paramedics, nurses, doctors, pharmacists, health care support workers, porters and domestic staff.

I really feel the need for more discharge lounges where patients can be moved to while waiting on medication from the pharmacy, or allow patients to be discharged and receive medication locally or if able to, family can return to collect medication later that day or following day, allowing beds to be utilised more, 24hr discharge from wards also if patients able to be discharged, many people would be able to be collected regardless of the time if all ok and again this would free up a bed sooner.

I would like to mention Debbie Charge Nurse from Ward 4 especially and Nurse Lucy who were looking after my dad and were always available to update us on how he has been throughout the day and night, this was very much appreciated. The staff in Ward 4 have such a constant turnaround of all different kinds of patients and are extremely busy but they all still manage to connect with the family of the patients they had on the ward.  They are also having their patients with them for much longer than expected due to there being no available beds in the medical/surgical wards to move them to. Thank you again to everyone involved with my dad's care, you are all doing a fantastic job and it is very much recognised and appreciated!

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Responses

Response from Lise Axford, Chief of Nursing, University Hospital Hairmyres, NHS Lanarkshire 6 months ago
Lise Axford
Chief of Nursing, University Hospital Hairmyres,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 03/09/2024 at 13:57
Published on Care Opinion at 13:57

picture of Lise Axford

Dear DDebby

Thank you for taking the time to share your dad's recent experience after his recent admissions and deteriorating health. I am pleased to read that all staff have delivered outstanding care.

It must have been a very difficult time for your dad and whole family. The pressures on the site, delays waiting to be transferred from an ambulance to the emergency department increase the stress and distress and I would like to offer my sincere apologies to you all. As you say, paramedics are needed to be on the road to attend to other patients. These delays are clearly not the standard we would like to see. All teams are working hard to improve the flow across the hospital, however as you have experienced, this remains a complex and pressurised situation.

All staff groups are working under immense strain to ensure patient care is not compromised and again I agree that this is difficult for all. You have clearly recognised the pressures and how this does affect many aspects of our patient’s journey. Taking the time to provide positive feedback to staff groups and individual staff members is appreciated. Your comments will be shared with the wider staff groups and individuals themselves. Thank you for your kind words.

I am interested in your thoughts regarding needing more discharge lounges. We have recently extended the opening hours of our discharge lounge to 8pm at night. At present it is only open during the week and we are looking at the possibility of extending. There is still some reluctance for patients to use the lounge, so I am encouraged by your thoughts. Patients can be discharged 24hrs a day, however we do need to make sure this is safe for each individual.

You have taken time to share how Debbie and the ward 4 team always made time to update you as a family. This is so important and Debbie, Lucy and the ward team will be delighted to see your comments.

Thank you again for your observations, recommendations and feedback. This will be shared widely and as you know, staff will take pleasure knowing their dedication to patient care is recognised.

I wish you and your family all the best.

Kind regards

Lise

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Response from Alan Martin, Clinical Development Manager, National Operations, Scottish Ambulance Service 6 months ago
Alan Martin
Clinical Development Manager, National Operations,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 04/09/2024 at 08:53
Published on Care Opinion at 08:53

picture of Alan Martin

Dear DDebby,

Many thanks for taking the time to share your feedback here on CareOpinion. I am so sorry to read about what happened to your Dad and I do hope that they are feeling better. Having two admissions within a short period of time must be very worrying.

You have pointed out some extremely important points around the turnaround times of ambulances at the hospitals and the unintended consequences of not being able to be released. Sadly the pressures within the whole system contribute to this and as Lise mentioned above it is not the standard that we expect. The positive news is that we are all in this together as Healthcare Providers and are continuously in communication to identify improvements, initiate escalation processes and working to identify innovative ways to reduce hospital turnaround times. Having feedback like yours serves as great qualitative evidence into why we need to keep moving forward.

I would also like to thank you for the kind words about the work our wonderful staff provide. Kindness and compassion is so important in the work we do and it is clear that the crews who attended your father had that.

If you wish I can pass on the feedback to the crews directly. To do so we would need to know the dates, rough times and address that the Ambulances attended and of course your fathers name. This information can be sent to sas.feedback@nhs.scot for the team to pick up. If you do decide to do this, would you be so kind as to make reference to your CareOpinion username so that the team can easily locate your story and share it with the crew.

I wish you all the very best and thanks again.

Kind Regards

Alan

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Update posted by DDebby (a staff member posting for a patient/service user)

Thank you both for such positive responses to my feedback, if we all work together we can make a difference.

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