Care Opinion

VCUG at the Royal Free Hospital Hampstead

Posted By Cubalibre

"VCUG at the Royal Free Hospital Hampstead"

About: Royal Free Hospital / Paediatrics

(as a relative),

My six weeks old baby had a VCUG in July 2005 at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. It was done by two people, one of them was reading the instructions on a book as he clearly did not have a clue how to do the procedure, he couldn’t find the tubes to insert and was panicking. Once the tubes were found (by the cleaner!) he did not have a clue how to operate it. He did not know how to open or close the line when his boss was asking him to do so, the line had bubbles all over... The lady in charge panicked and called the doctor / consultant who ended up doing the procedure.

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Responses

Response from Royal Free Hospital 18 years ago
Royal Free Hospital

Submitted on 20/02/2006 at 00:00
Published on Care Opinion at 00:00

The trust apologises for any distress felt by this parent. We have clearly failed to explain what was happening at the time. This procedure is only ever undertaken by a doctor due to its delicate nature and the age of the patient involved. The individuals referred to were preparing for the doctor to arrive to undertake the procedure.

The person reading the pamphlet was a student radiographer learning about the procedure and working under the guidance of the radiographer in the room.

The person who found the tube was a radiology department assistant - not a cleaner - and part of their job is to stock the rooms and know where equipment is kept.

Bubbles in the line are not dangerous as the contrast media is not given intravenously. The reason for clearing bubbles is that they can affect image quality.

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