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"My concerns were not listened to"

About: Royal Hospital for Children (Glasgow) / Accident & Emergency

(as a relative),

My grandson was recently referred over to the RHC from his GP but unfortunately he felt very unwell when we arrived in the car park , a gentleman noticed and very kindly helped and a staff member from the main entrance got us a wheelchair and took us round to the ED Entrance. I would like to thank the staff member, she was so nice and helpful.

When we arrived into the waiting area of the ED I booked my grandson into the department I was spoken with a HCSW, who directed us to the seating area. I spoke with the staff member and explained I was very worried about my grandson and explained what had happened within the car park, but they just replied - yeah, that's fine, take a seat. They did not at any point check my grandson in any way or note my concerns.

We had waited maybe 20 mins at this point when my grandson's mum arrived from her workplace and I was obviously explaining everything that had happened and she was obviously very worried and upset when she seen her son, only for the HCSW to approach me and say that there was only 1 adult allowed within the waiting area. This to me was very uncalled for. I understand that the waiting area can become overcrowded with   multiple adults, but not to be given the opportunity to support my daughter and grandchild is definitely not acceptable in these circumstances.

When my grandson was eventually called to triage he was triaged as a cat 2 and was very quickly seen by doctors and nurses as he was very unwell.

I would like to know firstly why my concerns were not listened to when I first presented, if a staff member is monitoring the waiting area why did they not pick up on this ? And 2 where did this rule 1 adult only come from? I have checked through the NHS policies and cannot see this anywhere, is this just a local agreement made by senior staff within this hospital?

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Responses

Response from Wendy Lundy, Senior Charge Nurse, Emergency Department, Royal Hospital for Children, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 3 days ago
Wendy Lundy
Senior Charge Nurse, Emergency Department, Royal Hospital for Children,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Submitted on 04/04/2025 at 14:41
Published on Care Opinion at 14:44


Dear Worried grandparent,

I am sorry to hear that your grandson has recently been very unwell. I hope he is now recovering. It is our intention within the Emergency Department to assess all children attending the hospital as quickly and safely as we can. We always have a health care support worker based in the waiting area to provide an initial assessment of each child who is waiting to be triaged. I am sorry that your experience with your grandson was not a positive one. I would like to discuss your visit with staff members on shift the day you attended, so if you could possibly email me with your grandson's name date of birth and the date he attended, my email address is Wendy.Lundy@nhs.scot I will investigate why your concerns were not listened to and will be in touch with you. We have a local policy where in order to prioritise patient safety in the waiting area we ask for only one parent to stay with the child to allow good visibility of all the children waiting as at times the waiting area can become very busy very quickly. Parents/grandparents /carers can swap over as there can be lengthy waits at times and when the child is in a cubicle to be seen by clinicians the other family member is able to be present also. We do however understand that this a very stressful time for parents and grandparents or carers and we do try and work with each family to achieve a satisfactory outcome so again I am very sorry that this was not what you and your family encountered.

Best Wishes

Wendy Lundy

Senior Charge Nurse

Emergency Department RHC

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