Comments received and actions taken October - December 2017
Comments are collected through Viewpoint cards that are available for anyone to complete. This report details the comments received and the actions taken. Description Patients who are claustrophobic should be able to wear eye masks for bone scan. Actions The nuclear Medicine team are currently looking into ordering single use eye masks that patients can put on during their scans. Listening Post response - Waiting times and praise Listening post feedback - Wait times long & Car parking charges Waiting times were effected as Radiotherapy were in the middle of replacing a Linac (between 8am to 8pm). Best efforts were made to keep patients informed and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused. These were same day issues as above. Listening post feedback - issues with car parking and transport These were same day issues as above. Concerns shared regarding unavailability of sanitary towels for purchase by patients. A patient with severe bleeding following a consultation was unable to find any at the neither boots pharmacy nor the gift shop. Unfortunately boots have limited space at Chelsea to keep products of this nature, however possible solutions should have been forthcoming for example; availability from wards and toilets. We apologise for the lack of communication. 2
Had to wait too long for appointment and was nearly one hour after scheduled, meant to be seen at 10am. Do not understand how an early morning appointment can be behind schedule Unfortunately this can sometimes occur, particularly if previous scan takes longer or if difficulties were experienced with the prep. Staff were reminded to adhere, where possible, to the appointment time and communicate if there are any delays with patients. Due to a very long wait time between getting a mammogram and ultra-scan on the same day, caused added stress and large car parking cost. The blood tests area was not staffed sufficiently (two operatives) resulting in a wait of 2 hours, meaning that many patients would maybe miss their appointments. Poor signage relating to the huge building changes at RMH Chelsea and would like to know whether the patient/visitor restaurant facilities could be brought back. The Single W.C in the Joe Ford area of Radiography was reported to have not been working for several weeks. Unfortunately, the one stop breast clinics can involves having multiple tests (Mammogram, Ultrasound, and Biopsy tec.). Clinical complexities can also cause delays. The information pack for the one stop breast warns that patients may be there for up to 4 hours. Staff endeavour to the see patients as efficiently as they can and in the correct order of clinic appointments. We are sorry for any distress or inconvenience caused. Unfortunately we experienced unusual delay on this day. The blood room was extremely busy due to the proceeding 2 bank holidays. Additional staff provided help to the phlebotomists during the day however we are sorry for any inconvenience caused. Facilities reported that signage was reviewed in 2017 and continues to be under review, with changes applied where appropriate. Unfortunately there are no plans at present to bring the restaurant back due to low attendance/usage by patients in the past. We do however have a café which offers a variety of hot and cold food options. Consequently toilets have been recently refurbished saniflows have been fitted. We are sorry for any inconvenience or frustration caused. 3
There was no coffee available at 9pm in the hospital for carers and visitors (Chelsea). Patient queried where one could donate clothing at the trust Requests received for more disabled patient parking spaces to be created at the lower level of the patient car park at RMH Sutton. Reduction of soft chairs in the RMH restaurant meant that they could not have lunch as sitting on the mainly hard chairs cause sciatica. There is a is a coffee vending machine in the Wallace Wing entrance area as well as coffee machines throughout various departments within the Trust. Please do liaise with staff if you are unable to locate these facilities. Unfortunately there is no function in place to receive donations of the nature. There are a number of disabled parking present, some of which are located in the upper level for entry to radiotherapy department and for other non-ambulant patients. If you are unable to locate these please do speak with staff who will be happy to assist. Unfortunately soft seating is difficult to clean and maintain, especially in a busy catering environment. We are sorry for any discomfort caused. Difficulty in seeing the same doctor each time is very stressful. Short or apparently short appointments mean you can easily forget symptoms or questions. We waited over four hours to be seen for her procedure. It leaves parents feeling anxious for too long. why call us in for 8.30am, We appreciate that we are not always able to arrange for our patients to see the same doctor but please be reassured that all patients are discussed before clinic with the treating clinician and medical records reviewed to ensure an informative consultation. We are very mindful of waiting times for procedures due to CYP being nil by mouth. We are sorry there was potentially a lack of communication to families on this day. It is very likely there was an emergency which prevented procedures running on time. We will remind staff to keep families up to date if delays are expected 4
We arrived for my daughter's chemo and were told at 12pm it had to be made up causing a 2 hour delay. We had already seen the doctor at 10.30am. Really frustrating to spend excess hours here, causing delay in picking our other child up. We left at 6.15pm. Why wasn't the chemo made up when they were expecting us? We have an hour commute home too. Over the past three months I have noticed that more nurses are eating their lunches (pasta out of their Tupperware boxes) whilst on their mobiles in the waiting area outside MDU. Is that normal? We apologise for any delays to children s treatments. We understand our families have long journeys to make to and from the PTC. We have a number of new staff, clinical nurse specialist and advance nurse practitioners who along with the wider team will support the service identifying problems in day-care area earlier, preventing long delays. We are sorry and disappointed to hear this and will be reminding staff of the appropriate staff areas that are available to them to take breaks. Waiting times are terrible. Every visit is a nightmare. Yesterday (11/12/17) 8 hours. Sunday (10/12/17) 5.5 hours and today (12/12/17) has been awful again. Nothing gets any better. (Oct- Dec) I had to sit and wait from 2pm to 4.40pm for my chemotherapy session to start. This was because the Doctor had changed the chemo dosage. Nobody informed that I could come back on Thursday or Friday. I got home that day at 10pm which is unacceptable for a diabetic. Astonished at how disorganised the endoscopy procedure went today. My nephew had to wait 3 extra hours after his original appointment. The care as always was satisfactory We are sorry for the delay that you experienced at your appointment. Unfortunately clinics can overrun but this is something that we are constantly looking at ways of improving as well as ensuring that staff communicate to patients when delays are experienced. We are very sorry for the delay and frustration caused. We have reminded staff to ensure clearer communication with patients when there are delays as well as relaying options to return at a later date is a patient so wishes. We are very sorry for the delay that your nephew experienced. We do try to run to appointment times as much as possible but this is not always possible due to procedure overrunning or emergency appointments. We would however expect staff to communicate any delays and the reasoning for these with patients and their families and we are sorry if this was not your experience. 5
I had to wait over two hours for an appointment to receive urgent results. This is unacceptable. We are very sorry for the delay that you experienced when receiving results. We do try to run to appointment times as much as possible however unfortunately this is not always possible due to procedures overrunning or emergency appointments. We would however expect staff to communicate any delays and the reasoning for these with patients and we are sorry if this was not your experience. 6
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