"All the staff were brilliant"

About: University Hospital Wishaw / Emergency Department

(as the patient),

Had to call 999 at the end of December due to extremely irregular and rapid heart rate coupled with tingling along left arm which had been going on for some time. Call handler extremely reassuring as well as subsequent call back from paramedic, Billy, who advised trip to A&E.  A friend drove me down to prevent tying up an ambulance, and my first trip to A&E in many years.

On arrival at around 10:00 pm, advised of especially long wait, but was triaged very quickly and ECG carried out along with bloods taken. My issue had calmed down dramatically since home so the check by professionals with nothing of note seen was a joy to hear. However the nurse, Natalie, informed that the bloods would identify if there had been a heart event and that I still required to be seen. Extremely pleasant woman and said (tongue in cheek) that the results should be back by the time I was seen. She was a pleasure to talk to, very cheery and chatty despite the challenges the department faced that evening.

Sat in the waiting room for another 10 hours awaiting to be seen with others who’d arrived before me slowly feeding through for examination, but a mainly well mannered public and no disturbances seen. The staff on duty were excellent at dealing with any impatient ‘customers’ and gave a warts and all appraisal of the current situation and wait times in order to give no false hope whenever anyone questioned the wait. All staff were brilliant and responsive to needs around them, and also quick to enforce the masks policy to ensure safety of all.

The waiting room was a source of calm and well insulated from the obviously busy scenes behind the ward doors. Eventually taken at around 8:00 am for a check whereby the doctor (I was too tired by this time to remember his name) gave further reassurance, including an examination of a part of my back which may have caused the tingling left arm, and sent me on my way home.

I was extremely conscious of having to use A&E at this time of year given the well reported issues and busyness, but the early reassurance on arrival gave me the confidence that my place in the queue was rightly of a lower priority. Great service from all staff to all waiting in the face of mounting difficulties.

Only thing I wasn’t too sure about was, as I was alone (through choice) due to the expected long wait, had my condition suddenly worsened in the waiting room would the staff be able to identify me and my condition to quickly respond? There may already be a system in place but it wasn’t obvious.

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Responses

Response from Julie Coyle, Senior Nurse - Emergency Care, University Hospital Wishaw, NHS Lanarkshire nearly 2 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Julie Coyle
Senior Nurse - Emergency Care, University Hospital Wishaw,
NHS Lanarkshire
Submitted on 04/01/2023 at 15:12
Published on Care Opinion at 16:07


Dear Gcalder0901,

Thank you for taking the time to share your recent experience within our Emergency Department at Wishaw. I am happy and reassured to hear that you found our staff chatty, cheery and pleasant despite the obvious pressures being experienced within the department. I will be delighted to share your feedback with our teams, in particular Natalie, who you have mentioned personally.

I apologise for the lengthy wait you had whilst attending the department and I am glad that everything, thankfully, checked out well and you were discharged home. You mentioned that you were unsure if staff would be able to identify if you were deteriorating within the waiting room and had concerns regarding the response.

There is currently no formal process for monitoring the waiting room but our triage nurses, ED doctors and reception staff are always on alert to assist where required. In relation to this, we are in the process of recruiting staff to monitor and assist the waiting area which will help mitigate this risk and will be a point of support/ contact for those people waiting to be seen.

Wishing you a healthy and happy new year.

Best Wishes,

Julie.

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