I had an unexpected emergency admission to hospital in May 2020 and I spent 3 nights as an inpatient across 2 hospitals, ie Wishaw General and Hairmyers. I have to admit I was really scared going into any hospital but as I had suffered a heart attack I had absolutely no choice.
On the whole i noticed a bit of a step-up in relation to infection Prevention & Control practices in general but, in the short time I was an in-patient I witnessed several different events where the practices of medical staff would definitely have spread Covid-19 if it had been present in the wards.......and who knows really whether it was or not?
The concerns relevant to Wishaw General are as follows:
No new patients were screened for Covid-19 on admission. I know this because I wasn’t and when I asked others they confirmed that they weren’t either. On admission to the A&E department I expressed my fear and I was told “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine, there’s no Covid in here” How do they know that if they weren’t checking new people coming in? To make sure I was as safe as possible I requested that I go into a side room.
There were clear notices up on walls in side rooms in A&E telling staff to remove PPE before leaving the room.......not once was this rule followed! And I’m not just talking about nurses, senior medical practitioners were just as bad! I find this very concerning. As a senior manager of a reputable Care at Home provider I teach Infection Prevention and Control procedures to Social Care staff and failure to follow Health Protection Scotland (HPS) guidelines on appropriate use, donning of and disposal of used PPE is considered a very serious risk to patient/client health and safety.........and then I find myself blatantly exposed to this same risk!
When in the Emergency Care Ward where visitors are not supposed to be allowed in I witnessed a relative of one patient being allowed in to set up their relative’s phone charger (I believe it was Grandparent/Grandchild) And not only this, but after the visitor was let in they discovered they had brought the wrong phone charger so went away and came back again with the correct one about 30 mins later! This in my opinion was irresponsible and totally unacceptable. I had been rushed into hospital by ambulance so had no opportunity to bring in any essentials I would need. My daughter drove 20 miles from her home to mine and then another 10 miles to Wishaw General to get me basic essentials and she had to hand these to a nurse at the main entrance ........ which is perfectly acceptable in the current climate; why I ask is a visitor allowed right into the ward with a phone charger? I actually overheard the patient asking their visitor how they managed to get in and they said they waved their work ID badge and no-one asked anything. I just hope that same visitor was not in contact with anyone Covid-19 positive as consideration for other patients in the ward was not evident........but then, where were the medical staff’s priorities either?
It’s all very well the DHSC putting out guidelines which are supposedly there to keep us all safe, but who is monitoring/policing any adherence (or otherwise) to these guidelines in any case? .... from what I have seen it looks like no-one is! It seems that as a patient I was the mercy of the standards and integrity of the person/s looking after me in the ward ..... scary!
As someone who takes Duty of Care very seriously I expect you not only to investigate my concerns but let me know what steps you will be putting in place to monitor practice! this is the very reason people like me, the general public, do not want to be anywhere near hospitals during the pandemic
"Infection Prevention & Control Standards in Hospital."
About: University Hospital Wishaw / Cardiology (Ward 4) University Hospital Wishaw Cardiology (Ward 4) ML2 0DP University Hospital Wishaw / Emergency Department University Hospital Wishaw Emergency Department ML2 0DP
Posted by Doods (as ),
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