"Shocking communication and lack of organisation"

About: Bassetlaw Hospital / Trauma and orthopaedics

(as a relative),

My wife is due to have wrist surgery at Bassetlaw Hospital today. We met her consultant on Monday and were given an admission letter which said Ward B5 would call us to give her an admission time. We were told to expect the call during Thursday. By 4pm yesterday we still had not heard anything so I tried to call the ward several times as mostly the number just rang out. When they eventually answered they said admission was normally 7. 30am but that since we hadn't been given a time we would be called in the morning after the consultants had met to discuss the list for the day. We were told to expect the call after 8. 30am. So when the phone rang around that time today I was somewhat surprised to be rudely told that my wife was meant to be in for surgery at 7. 30 today. I explained exactly what we had been told and that the communication had been unhelpful and non existent. The staff member went to speak to the consultant and seemed more contrite when asking me to bring my wife in asap. However on our arrival this same staff member proceeded to argue with me telling me they had called us 2 days ago and spoken to me when that hadn't been the case.

I'm not stupid and know exactly what's happened when and I really object to being treated like we were in the wrong. Now we've arrived in day surgery they don't know if she's having an operation in the morning or afternoon and her notes aren't here. If we didn't know and trust her consultant, we'd be going home because the organisation and communication has been nothing but farcical.

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Responses

Response from Gill Pickersgill, Communications & Engagement Officer, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
Gill Pickersgill
Communications & Engagement Officer,
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Submitted on 07/01/2016 at 15:47
Published on Care Opinion at 15:49


We're sorry to hear that you have been given conflicting information and appreciate this must have been stressful while you were waiting for your wifes surgery to be arranged. Please be assured that we will be speaking to all the staff concerned to ensure that the orthopaeedic trauma list is organised and communicated to patients in a much improved way.

We have spoken to the Day Surgery Unit and understand your wifes surgery has gone ahead today. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and wish her a speedy recovery.

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Update posted by Frankly1972 (a relative)

Thank you for a helpful response, Gill. The care my wife received yesterday was excellent and apart from the argumentative staff member who must have been having a bad day everyone else was lovely. My wife also hugely appreciated a senior nurse taking the trouble to come and apologise for the communication issues before her admission. However the small things do make a difference and the administrative lead up to her operation didn't feel very patient centred. Luckily I work predominantly from home and have a very flexible employer but the logistics of a full time job, managing the care needs of our adult special needs daughter, making sure our 12 year old son is organised to and from school along with getting my wife to hospital when she needs to be aren't inconsiderable. We understand the pressure the NHS is under and that it's not all about us but equally patients and carers need time to plan and organise too. To finish on a positive note Mr Simpson-White as well as being clearly very good at his craft has an excellent bedside manner. The fact he's personable, down to earth and kind without a huge ego is a huge credit to him as a professional.

Response from Gill Pickersgill, Communications & Engagement Officer, Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
Gill Pickersgill
Communications & Engagement Officer,
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Submitted on 11/01/2016 at 09:19
Published on Care Opinion at 09:33


Hi - Thanks for your feedback. So sorry about the mix up on the day of admission, the ward manager as you know is aware of this and will speak to the staff concerned to ensure this doesnt happen again.I have also passed your kind comments on to Mr Simpson-White who I am sure will be delighted to receive such kind feedback.

I hope your wife is recovering well.

Regards

Gill

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