"The lack of care and dignity my husband has received"

About: Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France / Accident & Emergency Western General Hospital / Urology

(as a relative),

On Friday My husband  went to our GP with issues with passing urine his GP contacted the on call urology registrar for advice GP did not catch his name but his advice was for my husband to go RIE and get bladder scan and put a Indwelling Catheter insitu and leave it in till to goes to his appointment in APRIL !!! That was the advice he was given. So my husband who is in his 40's has been told to get a IDC put in place and that is that. I took my husband to the RIE A&E with his letter in hand from the GP he was sent through to the portal cabin where a nurse put the instilagel in that fast it hurt hurt him they then put the catheter in right away without giving the instilagel time to numb the area hit it off his already enlarged prostate causing him more unnecessary pain! they then told my husband since it's draining you can go home handed him a bag of night bags and told if he needs another leg bag he can buy them from the pharmacy or online. With this information, I called and asked to speak to the nurse incharge as I wanted to know why 

1 he was told to buy his leg bags 

2 where is his catheter passport 

3 who is going to be looking after the IDC 

I spoke with the charge nurse who apologised for the nurses behaviour and comments about the leg bags and that they would be speaking with the nurse. The nurse also informed me A&E don't do IDC passport why ??? I was told our local District nurses will be picking up the catheter care. I called the GP when I got home. I was not happy with this at all where is the plan what and who is documenting over seeing my husbands care because leaving him with a IDC for two month has a high possibility that his muscle mass in his bladder might not function again leaving him incontinent. GP said he would email the Dr and get a plan in place.

Come Monday night we had to go to the out of hour he was in so much pain nothing was draining from the catheter I changed the bag still nothing I call 111 they adivised me to take him to Midlothian Community Hospital to see the doctor up there who called reg on call for urology but was told it was not there specialitally so send him ARU at WGH as he was in so much pain. His tummy had swollen right up again. We were seen quickly by a lovely Nurse who bladder scanned my husband and changed his catheter much better experience than the last time! the nurse then filled in his Catheter Passport. I asked if they would look to see if a plan has been made to see him but they said there is no plan nothing has been documented at all about the Friday from the registrar who the GP spoke to on Trak. the nurse kindly gave my husband the name of the doctor he needs to contact. Now I have called left messages for the urology nurse specialist team on Friday and have still not been contacted 5 days later. I Called switchboard today asked to be put through to the named doctor to be told they are a registrar and does not have a secretary but she kindly put me through to another secretary for a consultant it was after 4pm because I had just finished work. I've left a long message it is late, and maybe they would be finished.  This nothing like the care I provide my patients I treat my patients as if they are my family like I would like to be treated myself and have done for 15 years but this treatment is absolutely disgusting and I never thought I'd ever put a complaint on this forum but here I am.

I'm disgusted with the lack of care and dignity my husband has received. 

Urology department Dr please contact our GP. 

Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Claire Palmer, Associate Nurse Director, Western General Hospital, NHS Lothian 2 weeks ago
Claire Palmer
Associate Nurse Director, Western General Hospital,
NHS Lothian
Submitted on 28/02/2025 at 15:56
Published on Care Opinion at 15:59


Dear lacertaxr68,

I am really sorry to hear of the experience you and your husband have had across our departments when trying to access our services and support. This is not the timely person centered care we are striving to provide.

In order to address your concerns can I ask that you contact our patient experience team by telephone on 0131 536 3370, or email at LOTH.feedback@nhs.scot, so that they can support you in taking forward your concerns and connecting with the urology team.

I am sorry again for the experience you have had.

Claire

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by lacertaxr68 (a relative)

Thank you for your response Claire I appreciate it. Although it shouldn't have been needed I have put in a complaint using the nhs patient experience also. What would be more helpful would be for the registrar that made the decision to send my husband to A&E at the RIE rather than send him to the urology department at the WGH.

Response from Michelle Jack, Associate Nurse Director, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, NHS Lothian last week
Michelle Jack
Associate Nurse Director, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh,
NHS Lothian
Submitted on 03/03/2025 at 10:36
Published on Care Opinion at 10:36


picture of Michelle Jack

Dear lasertaxr68

May I echo Claires apologies as above and ask that you allow us to review the care your husband received within RIE through the same channel. I have shared this with the team in our department to try and prevent the same experiences again.

Please take care and once again apologies on our behalf.

Kind regards

Michelle

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by lacertaxr68 (a relative)

Thank you, Michelle. I did report my concerns to the charge nurse in A&E while I drove my husband home. I queried why he didn't have an IDC passport and complained about the care my husband received whilst in there.

This complaint has already been gone through NHS complaint process, so it should be traceable from there.

Thanks

Response from Ray Middlemiss, Clinical Nurse Manager, Emergency Department, NHS Lothian last week
Ray Middlemiss
Clinical Nurse Manager, Emergency Department,
NHS Lothian
Submitted on 04/03/2025 at 10:08
Published on Care Opinion at 10:08


Thank you for taking the time to feedback - I can only apologise for your husbands experience and when your complaint arrives will look in to his journey when in the Emergency Department. His experience falls well below the standard expected whilst under our care.

Kind regards

Ray

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by lacertaxr68 (a relative)

Good morning,

I still cannot get hold of anyone, all I'm getting is an answer phone - leave your details. We did this before and no one got back to us! I've called switchboard and they are putting me through to cancer clinics and numbers that I can't leave a message because it not checked!

How is this impossible to speak to a person within urology? Why give out a number that's not manned? So we are back to the start again of trying to speak to a urology nurse specialist for advice its a nightmare!

Response from Ray Middlemiss, Clinical Nurse Manager, Emergency Department, NHS Lothian last week
Ray Middlemiss
Clinical Nurse Manager, Emergency Department,
NHS Lothian
Submitted on 06/03/2025 at 12:13
Published on Care Opinion at 12:13


Good Morning

I don't work at the WGH but the number I can find for the Nurse Urology Unit based there is 0131 537 1874.

Kind regards

Ray

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k