"Experience as an Extra Bed patient"

About: University Hospital Wishaw / Respiratory Medicine (Ward 7)

(as the patient),

I recently required admission to hospital for some tests and was advised to attend A&E with a letter from my GP. I was seen very quickly by medics on arrival and then waited for a bed in a ward. This took around 12 hours and I have no complaints about this.

The porter arrived and advised I was going to ward 7, on arrival at the ward it became apparent I was going to be put in the middle of the 6-bedded room as the seventh bed. At no point prior to this had I been advised that I was going to be an extra bed patient (I later learned that terminology).

I had zero privacy, no cabinet to keep my belongings, no chair to sit on and only had access to an extension lead when I advised I needed to charge my phone. My bed was also directly under the lighting for the whole ward, which was horrific.

It was very clear to me that I was in the way when OT, Physio, etc came to the ward as they have to manoeuvre around me and had very little space. In my view, it was not safe.

What compounded my negative experience was that it became apparent that even when a bed became available in the ward I was not allowed to move in to it. This scenario happened twice during my admission and it was pretty hard to swallow. Apparently when you are accepted as an extra bed patient then you remain labelled as such until you leave.

I was pretty upset on several occasions throughout my stay due to my situation and the staff in the ward did try to help as they could. They advised to complain to Patient Affairs which I did and this was passed directly back to the ward for response. A nurse came and spoke with me and I have no complaints about the ward staff. They do not make the decisions regarding the policy of extra bed patients.

Whilst I appreciate the pressures for beds I cannot accept that the experience I had is good health care practice. I understand this is a policy that has now been in place for a number of years, yet there has been no change in ward setup to accommodate an extra bed. Would you like to be cared for in the scenario I have described? There wasn’t so much as a curtain added to the ward to provide privacy like each of the other patients were afforded.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this experience with the relevant person (not ward staff). I believe there are a number of things which can be put in place to ensure that future patients have a much better experience than I did.

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Responses

Response from Jennifer Montgomery, Improvement Coordinator, Quality Directorate, NHS Lanarkshire last month
Jennifer Montgomery
Improvement Coordinator, Quality Directorate,
NHS Lanarkshire

Operational Lead for Care Opinion in NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 03/02/2025 at 14:36
Published on Care Opinion at 14:36


picture of Jennifer Montgomery

Dear yims,

Thank you for sharing your experience in University Hospital Wishaw, Respiratory Medicine.

I am sorry to hear that you were so unwell and had to be admitted. I appreciate you taking the time to help us understand how it feels to be an extra bed patient. I can only imagine how frustrating it was for you to see others be admitted to the ward and get a bed in a designated bay but you did not get moved. I am disappointed that your privacy was not maintained and that you were made to feel like a nuisance while the OTs and Physios were working in that area.

I would like this to be looked into further so would encourage you to speak with Patient Affairs again if you would be happy to do so. Their email is patient.affairs@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk and please quote your previous complaint reference.

I hope you are feeling much better.

Best Wishes,

Jenni

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Update posted by yims (the patient)

Thank you for your reply.

I emailed Patient affairs on Monday, as advised, and I await a response.

Regards.

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