Share review of St Peter's Hospital

St Peter's Hospital 2020-12-10 Person 2 5 0

I spent around 8 hours at A&E between seeing the UTC doctor and waiting for UTC, Surgical ED triage, and SAUV. I gave a urine sample after about two hours, and bloods after about four and a half hours. Around seven and a half hours in was when I got to see the doctor handling my case and that was the first time I got any information on the results of the urine sample and blood work. The doctor then discharged me and told me that the hospital would contact me the next day (today) for me to have an ultrasound. Yesterday no one told me if I should be eating or not so after a biscuit at 10am, the only thing I ate until around 10pm was a bottle of Huel I slowly drank during the afternoon as I got hungry enough that that became more pressing than my abdominal discomfort. I was told that today I shouldn't eat and drink only water. As a result, I'm not eating whilst I wait for the hospital's call, so I hope I do not get left to wait until 9pm again today! Whilst I do understand the need to prioritise emergency situations over a non-emergency situation like mine and really feel for the doctors that were rushed off their feet all shift, the above is why I indicated delay and a lack of being informed in my responses.

It would be great if the hospital could provide some level updating patients with what is known about their case, even if that were just someone coming and saying something like "The doctors are super busy, it's going to be a while before you're seen. We've got the urine and bloods results back and need to wait for the doctor to interpret them." Could the A&E reception implement some kind of ticketing system and a display that told you which number was the next case to be triaged? I understand that it could cause a lot of potential upset if emergencies kept coming in and the display never ticked up, but it could do a lot to reassure patients that they're still in the queue and that they haven't just missed their name being called. The last thing I noticed - while waiting for A&E triage - was that names being called would often be hard to understand or be called from one end of the A&E waiting room seemingly quiet enough that I don't think I would have heard my name being called if I were sitting at the far end of the waiting room. I imagine it is incredibly difficult for staff to consistently search the waiting area for people, which perhaps a ticketing system would also help with.