Care Opinion

Substandard care

Posted By julietqs78

"Substandard care"

About: Mater Hospital / Accident & Emergency

(as a service user),

My mother, who is in her 80's, came by ambulance to Mater ED after a fall at home. My mother was just over a round of chemo and has a picc line. Only 1 doctor in ED could access the Picc line, therefore further bloods taken throughout her night stay in ED was drawn Peripherally causing distress and pain. My Mother was already covered in bruises from the fall.

She was finally admitted the next day to Ward 2c - her blood transfusion was delayed by 11 hours because no-one trained on giving blood, again, 15 - 20 times she was stuck with needles to gain access and take bloods because no-one was trained in Picc lines, her leg was swollen, red, burning and painful and she had 1 bout of VD (all signs of infection) yet she was told her leg was fine. Finally they established it was infected and she was given IV antibiotics, these antibiotics were delivered through a cannula that was placed in the same arm as her Picc line, the cannula caused Thrombophlebitis in this arm, increasing the risk of clots and infection.

This is absolutely abhorrent care. She has a fracture in her leg and was told she would be discharged giving my mother false hope. There was no care package put in place and it wasn’t until the social worker contacted myself I told them she lives alone with no care in the house and high risk of falls. I would like to ask if you feel this level of care is acceptable within the Belfast trust and how would they like their elderly mother treated like this? A place that should be helping caused delay in treatment, pain, trauma and worry and possible injury to my mother. 

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Responses

Response from Bernie Carey, Service Manager, Mater Hospital, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust 5 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Bernie Carey
Service Manager, Mater Hospital,
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 11/10/2024 at 14:31
Published on Care Opinion at 15:32

Dear julietqs78

Thank you for contacting care opinion. My name is Bernie Carey and I am the service manager at the Mater. I am very disheartened to read this synopsis of the care your Mother experienced while at the Mater. Your Mother clearly had a bad fall at home and was already experiencing pain and discomfort. From the very outset I want to apologise to you and to her of course for the poor experience while in our care. You are right, the PICC line was the route staff should have accessed to deliver treatment and take bloods, not causing any further delays or distress and discomfort to her. This has clearly caused you a lot of anxiety and stress and I am very sorry for the worry and upset caused. I understand totally your frustration with the service. PICC lines are seldom seen and used on ward C and in the Mater ED. This is an issue that we are aware of and have instigated an action plan to address so that going forward this service can be delivered confidently at the Mater.

Your Mother already had a PICC line available when she attended the emergency department and this should have been highlighted on handover to the bed manager when allocating a bed. I am sorry that you Mother was not allocated to the right ward where staff were competent in dealing with PICC lines. I have certainly listened to you and please be assured I will take this forward for learning with the Lead nurse in Patient flow. We do always endeavour to discharge patients safely and I am sorry staff give her false hope about going home.

I have spoken with the ward manager and staff on ward C who can recall your mother very well. They too are saddened to read this experience and we all sincerely hope she is gaining strength and continuing to recover well.

Thank you again for highlighting your concerns. We welcome an opportunity to meet with you both if you want to provide me with a confidential email address and the service will be back in touch with respect to you specific concerns directly. PatientExperience@belfasttrust.hscni.net. Thanks again for being in contact.

Best wishes and take care

Bernie Carey

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Response from Bernie Carey, Service Manager, Mater Hospital, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust 4 months ago
We have made a change
Bernie Carey
Service Manager, Mater Hospital,
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 11/11/2024 at 16:14
Published on Care Opinion at 16:30

Dear Julietqs78

I do hope your Mum's health continues to improve. I just wanted to touch base with you again and let you know we have commenced an extensive training programme for staff on the care of delivering PICC line services.at the Mater. In addition going forward we have also advised the Bed managers until all our Nursing teams are fully trained, all Patients admitted to the Mater will be admit to the one named ward where staff are already fully competent. This will give me the assurance our patients are receiving a safe PICC service at ward level.

I am very grateful for you bringing this to my attention. Thank you again

Kind regards

Bernie Carey

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Update posted by julietqs78 (a service user)

Hi

Thank you for replying and thank you in assuring us that this is something that is being looked at. We understand as a family the immense pressure healthcare is under, however, this was a distressing time for my mother and ourselves. We sincerely appreciate the time taken to look into this and the attempts the hospital has made in implementing change in order to avoid other incidents.

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