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Having that little bit of extra support meant a lot

Posted By Rucki

"Having that little bit of extra support meant a lot"

About: Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (Edinburgh) / Crichton Ward Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (Edinburgh) / Play Services

(as a carer),

My autistic daughter had her pre op visit at the royal hospital for children and young people last week.

One staff member, consultant anaesthetist Dr Ong stood out. She had a very calm demeanour which went down really  well with my daughter and myself (both understandably very anxious during the visit). My daughter referred to her as “the nice doctor”.

Dr Ong  also did brilliantly with her small team when it came to administering the anaesthetic  during the day of the surgery, working in tandem with my daughter.

I also just wanted to say a special thank you to Lesley-Ann the health play therapist for walking with me up to the ward afterwards.

I knew where the ward was ,but just having someone allocated to look after the parent and being told “i am here to support you today “ was of great help to me.

It’s these little things that count a lot and I wanted to feed this back so that other parents can have this positive experience, too. As a parent of an autistic child, the stress levels even leading up to the day of the operation  and during the pre op visit have been building up on a MASSIVE scale , so having that little bit of extra support meant a lot .

Keep it up !

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Responses

Response from Margaret McEwan, Play Services Co-Ordinator, Play Services, Royal Hospital for Children and Young People last week
Margaret McEwan
Play Services Co-Ordinator, Play Services,
Royal Hospital for Children and Young People

Submitted on 07/04/2025 at 15:54
Published on Care Opinion at 15:54

Dear Rucki,

Thank you for taking the time to post your feedback on this platform and I am sorry that your daughter has had to spend time in hospital. However, I am glad that Dr Ong and Lesley-Ann helped make the experience better for you both.

I manage the play team in the hospital and Lesley-Ann is part of my team. I am glad that she was able to support you and direct you to the ward as you must have been quite worried and I will make sure that she sees your lovely comments. I am sure that she too will appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to acknowledge the service provided.

Please do not hesitate to contact the play team for any future appointments your daughter may have to see what support we can put in place.

Kind regards

Margaret McEwan

Play Services Co-Ordinator

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Response from Iona Quinn, Staff Nurse, Surgery, Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, NHS Lothian last week
Iona Quinn
Staff Nurse, Surgery, Royal Hospital for Children and Young People,
NHS Lothian

Submitted on 09/04/2025 at 11:29
Published on Care Opinion at 11:29

Hi, My name is Iona I am a staff nurse on the Crichton unit.

I would firstly like thank you for taking the time, to provide us with such valuable feedback.

I am very pleased you had such a positive experience and that you felt well supported throughout the day. We strive as a unit to get it right for each family. Receiving positive feedback helps us continue to support future families. I will pass this feedback onto the team at Crichton.

I hope your child is making a speedy recovery at home.

Thank you again!

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