Care Opinion

Care at NHS Forth Valley Hospital

Posted By Nodrog B

"Care at NHS Forth Valley Hospital"

About: Forth Valley Royal Hospital / Accident & emergency Forth Valley Royal Hospital / Acute assessment unit Forth Valley Royal Hospital / Surgical Assessment Unit General practices in Forth Valley Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow / Accident & Emergency Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance

(as the patient),

One early morning in February, I was taken by ambulance to A&E Forth Valley Hospital for severe pain in my back. After investigation, this was diagnosed as PE (blood clot in my lung). The care I received was exemplary and the hard-working staff at the Acute Medicine Unit/Surgical Assessment Unit should be commended for all they did for me. However, one thing I feel could have been better.

I was discharged on a Saturday, still with some pain and facing a difficult hour-long car journey to my home. I was handed a written prescription for stronger pain killers and blood-thinning medication. But I was not given any actual meds to take home with me from hospital. This created huge problems for me and my wife, since all nearby pharmacies were now closed and would also be on the next day (Sunday). I spent a very painful, long and sleepless Saturday night, sitting with my head between my knees - the least painful position I could find. Next day we tried to find on the internet the nearest pharmacy that was open on Sunday, but ended up going to A&E at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where I was given Co-codamol painkillers. However, they could not give me my urgent blood-thinning medication, but advised us to find a dispensing pharmacy in Glasgow. It took us, even using the internet, until 3pm on the Sunday afternoon, before we found an accessible Glasgow pharmacy to dispense my medication. Even then, I had to still visit my local Health Centre on the Monday, where my GP prescribed morphine, since I was still in so much pain.

Upon discharge at the Forth Valley Hospital, I picked up a leaflet which explained what to expect when discharged. One of the items listed was, "We will provide... Medications or prescriptions for any new medications".

Could I urge the hospital to ensure that any patient being discharged at a weekend or out-of-hours, is given actual medication and not just a written prescription to take home with them. This would have saved my family and I a great deal of anxiety and unnecessary pain that difficult weekend.

Yours sincerely

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Responses

Response from Donna Clark, Clinical Manager, Medical, FVRH 2 years ago
Donna Clark
Clinical Manager, Medical,
FVRH

Submitted on 07/03/2022 at 15:54
Published on Care Opinion at 15:54

Dear Nodrog B

Thank you for taking time to give us this very valuable feedback. All feedback is important to us and especially when it allows us to look at our current practice and make changes to support patient comfort and wellbeing. I sincerely apologise for the poor experience you had following your discharge from our care and following your feed back I will request that on discharge with a community prescription we are ensuring that patients have knowledge of where they can access a pharmacy in the out of hours period.

There is a link on NHS inform that does advise on what pharmacists are open and when, although I am very aware that not everyone will be aware of this link therefore it is important that we ensure we update our patients on how this can be accessed prior to them leaving the hospital.

Again I thank you for brining this to our attention and sincerely do hope you are feeling better.

Yours sincerely

Donna Clark

operational Manager.

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Update posted by Nodrog B (the patient)

Dear Ms Clark

Thank you for your response to my feedback and for your kind wishes. I am pleased to hear that my suggestion will lead to a better procedure for out-of-hours discharge patients. If we'd known about the NHS Inform link you mentioned, that may have helped in locating an open pharmacy for my prescription, although I'm unsure if we'd have still found an open pharmacy on the Saturday evening without having to divert many miles from our route home. However, I feel my other point was not addressed.

Having been discharged on a Saturday evening facing a long drive to a rural remote district from the hospital, I still feel my overnight discomfort could have been avoided had I been given enough suitable medications (as per one of the options in your own discharge leaflet) to at least see me through that night.

Prior to discharge, I'd received paracetamol painkillers, but their effect obviously wouldn't last until the next day. Nor were they strong enough for the pain experienced during my car journey home and subsequent sleepless night.

Thank you and I do hope this helps.

Nodrog B

Response from Nicole McInally, Patient Experience and Public Involvement Project Manager, PEPI, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 2 years ago
Nicole McInally
Patient Experience and Public Involvement Project Manager, PEPI,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Submitted on 09/03/2022 at 09:41
Published on Care Opinion at 09:41

picture of Nicole McInally

Dear Nodroq B

Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to your story.

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and I apologise for the additional pain and anxiety you experienced. I have spoken to colleagues in Pharmacy and they have advised that patients who attend A&E are usually given a prescription rather the medication. (Although they do have some items like painkillers and antibiotics for patients to take away). However, my colleagues from A&E have advised that they will ensure that patients are advised of where they can access an out of hours pharmacy.

As Care Opinion is anonymous, if you would like a more detailed response can you please email PatientExperience@ggc.scot.nhs.uk with your personal details?

Many thanks

Nicole

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Response from Lesley Kay, Patient Experience Team Leader, Corporate Affairs, Scottish Ambulance Service 2 years ago
Lesley Kay
Patient Experience Team Leader, Corporate Affairs,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 09/03/2022 at 12:18
Published on Care Opinion at 12:18

Dear Nodroq B

Thank you for your Feedback. I am really sorry to read you have had to make use of our services as well as those of the wider NHS.

I am also sorry to read about the difficulties experienced when you were discharged from hospital. I am really pleased however to see colleagues from NHS Forth Valley and also NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde have been in touch and I hope you have found this helpful.

I hope you are now on the road to recovery and wish you well

Best Wishes

Lesley

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Update posted by Nodrog B (the patient)

Part of my problem was caused by living in a small village 35+ miles from the Forth Valley Hospital and 15 miles from our nearest city, Glasgow. We thought it would be relatively easy to find on the internet a local pharmacy open on a Sunday, but this proved much more difficult than expected. The A&E nurse at the QEU Glasgow Hospital said we would be able to find a pharmacy in 'a large supermarket'. The nearest supermarket was in Ibrox (ASDA) and their website said they did had a dispensing pharmacy. But on arrival, we discovered the instore pharmacy had shut down, but their website had not been updated. We then tried other large supermarkets in Braehead, but again, no pharmacies. In the end we had to travel across the city to find an open pharmacy in the Knightswood district. During all this time, I was in a lot of pain. And what about patients without their own transport? My recommendation is that all A&E units should provide discharge patients with up-to-date lists of the nearest pharmacies with their opening times at weekends or out-of-hours - or better still, provide necessary short-term medications.

Thank you, Nodrog B

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