Care Opinion

let down by 7 hour delay in discharge

Posted By happy hammer

"let down by 7 hour delay in discharge "

About: Watford General Hospital

(as the patient),

I was in Watford Hospital for 5 nights the staff were fantastic. Then of discharge day the all the good work was undone I spent just under 7 hours in the discharge lounge.

Waiting for my prescription, by the time I got home I was in a right old state. Get people home quicker.

Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Antony Tiernan, Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications, Communications and corporate affairs, West Herfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust 11 years ago
We have made a change
Antony Tiernan
Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications, Communications and corporate affairs,
West Herfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust

I lead a team who help manage the way we listen to and communicate with our patients and their families, as well as our own staff and volunteers. Feel free to tweet me via @AntonyTiernan

Submitted on 21/02/2014 at 17:08
Published on Care Opinion at 17:12

picture of Antony Tiernan

Thank you for taking the time to let us have feedback about the care you received at Watford Hospital.

I was sorry to hear you were unwell and needed to be admitted but very pleased to hear of your kind feedback about the team that looked after you.

I was of course very disappointed to hear about the delay you experienced in our discharge lounge and can only apologise that this happened. It is not acceptable and it clearly ruined what had been a positive experience for you.

I have raised this with our discharge team and with our pharmacy. I'd be lying if I said this was the first time this had happened, but I am pleased to say it is not a regular occurrence either.

However, I am pleased to report that as of this week we have instigated a new procedure to ensure that delays in patients receiving their prescriptions are escalated more quickly, raising it with the clinical team who looked after you, with the discharge team and with our pharmacists.

We are confident that this new procedure will help prevent such long delays in future, but we will be tracking it closely over the coming weeks and months.

Thank you again for your kind feedback and I apologise for the fact that your stay with us ended so badly.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of help. My email is antony.tiernan@whht.nhs.uk or you can tweet me: @AntonyTiernan. Alternatively, feel free to give me a call on 01923 436 229.

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k