Opinions please

[ollyit]

Sorry this isnt rib related, its basically in a nutshell some stupid nurse who gave my mum the wrong treatment at the hospital -

My mum recently had a small cyst in her eye lid went to the doctors usual routine and had a hospital apoointment for removal a few months later, my mum went there day before yesterday with my sister to have this work done, a nurse then took her in to a room and started pouring this solution in her eyes, my mum asked what it was and she just uttered something in foreign and ran off - turns out this treatment was meant for a 40yr diabetic MAN!! do this dumbarse's not even read the notes??!!! - Surelly my mum cant be mistaken for a 45 year fella by the name of malcolm?!?! - I am soo narked at this as mum is far too nicer person to take it any further, as a result she couldnt hardly see for the next 5hours lucky my sister was there - now they've asked her to make more time off work to come again and have the cyst removed, I wonder what they'll do next! - sorry if I'm going off on one but when its family its very personal - whom do you think I should talk too about this, its an outrage !

[Rodan]

Firstly you HAVE to complain. Otherwise nothing gets noted and it carries on. We hear about complaints but the NHS gets away with far more as people do not complain.

[codprawn]

Sorry to here what happened but remember there is not much difference between a man's eye's and a woman's eye - or even a spaniel for that matter!!!

I assume they used dilating drops which is very common for any eye examination - it's also used before laser eye surgery.

Obviously with a cyst there was no need for this and as you say it COULD have been worse - definitely complain as it may help stop it happening again. There was an horrific case not long ago where they removed the wrong kidney and the poor bloke died a few weeks later.

[jwalker]

There will be a department which is set up to deal with complaints.

Put your case carefully, calmly, accurately and authoritatively.

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by jwalker

There will be a department which is set up to deal with complaints.

Put your case carefully, calmly, accurately and authoritatively.

I'll second that advice, there will be a complaints procedure.

It's also worth considering what you want to achieve from a complaint: just having a rant; getting an apology; having someone sacked; preventing a similar mistake happening again; wads of cash etc. Some are more realistic than others . . .

Oh, and you may find that as it actually relates to your Mum (and not to you directly) that you have no grounds for complaint anyway.

Hope it all gets sorted out OK.

John

[Poly]

Originally Posted by ollyit

Sorry this isnt rib related, its basically in a nutshell some stupid nurse who gave my mum the wrong treatment at the hospital -

My mum recently had a small cyst in her eye lid went to the doctors usual routine and had a hospital apoointment for removal a few months later, my mum went there day before yesterday with my sister to have this work done, a nurse then took her in to a room and started pouring this solution in her eyes, my mum asked what it was and she just uttered something in foreign and ran off - turns out this treatment was meant for a 40yr diabetic MAN!! do this dumbarse's not even read the notes??!!! - Surelly my mum cant be mistaken for a 45 year fella by the name of malcolm?!?! - I am soo narked at this as mum is far too nicer person to take it any further, as a result she couldnt hardly see for the next 5hours lucky my sister was there - now they've asked her to make more time off work to come again and have the cyst removed, I wonder what they'll do next! - sorry if I'm going off on one but when its family its very personal - whom do you think I should talk too about this, its an outrage !

I have had cause to complain to the NHS on behalf of another person in the past. Our primary concern was to tighten up procedures and extract some sort of appology for crap treatment - rather than seek compensation...

I believe you can't complain to the NHS on behalf of someone else without their written permission.

I believe complaints about "poor bedside manner" etc are difficult to be objective about etc - and therefore hard for the NHS to take action on.

Errors like you describe should be easy to "prove". When we made our complaint it was about treatment without informed consent (medication administered to 'make you feel better' - without discussing the fairly serious other implications - which we had agreed with other doctors would not be acceptable). If you make clear from the start that you are not talking about financial compensation, lawyers, and other such threats which people seem to band about at moments like this - then I think you will find them much more receptive to disucssion problems/issues.

We wrote to the ceo of the trust and the head of department. CEO was much more responsive.

Oh - and finally whilst you might suggest that even after challenging the treatment "communication was poor" I don't suggest that you describe it as "uttered something in foreign" because (1) the NHS are reliant on foreign staff and (2) they are probably so paranoid about race discrim. claims that the actual issue (you couldn't understand them) gets lost in concerns that you are internionally/uninitentionally being racist. The NHS management aren't stupid (well not all of them!) so if you refer to poor communication, or difficult to understand they will be able to make that connection themselves.

Hope that helps.

[NautiAndNice]

Ollyit, I'm really very sorry to hear your story.

The NHS is a institution which helps many people, but unfortunately things do go wrong, for various reasons, on occasions.

It seems that the main complaint you should make would be about the poor communication your mum and family received at the hospital. The treatment administered could well have been correct, but communication about the purpose of the treatment appears to have been poor. If it transpires that the treatment administered was incorrect, you should consider complaining about that too.

Every Primary Care Trust (PCT) has a Complaints team....they may also be called Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). Contact them. Discuss your case with them. You may be able to make your point and obtain a satisfactory resolution there and then. If not, put your complaint in writing. The Trust will commence an investigation into your complaint and should report back to you.

I know people can be reluctant to complain - especially if they need to go back to the same department for futher treatment, but unless errors/mistakes/suggestions for the future are flagged, it is likely that a similar standard or care will be administered to others.

[The Jackeens]

Sorry to read about this Olly.

Good advice has already been posted. Sadly injustice often prevails and it's often not worth your time complaining but hopefully there will be some sort of attempt to remedy the situation,

Kathleen & Paul