Orwell Private Cardiothoracic Unit (1)
Private hospital, East Of England

This review refers to the nursing, environmental and governance within the cardiothorasic private patient unit. The standard of
cleanliness was poor with the bathroom not being cleaned properly for the duration of my stay (5 days) and bins containing used
dressings not emptied daily. There is a clear lack of governance and communication as on the evening and during the night following
my operation I was given paracetamol for pain relief despite being written up for controlled drugs (morphine based). On the second
evening/ night I was in extreme pain and despite reminding the nurse that I had been written up for Buscapan this was not administered
and I was left all night in pain. The standard of the food is very poor with a number of items from the limited menu regularly not
available. Staff do not routinely check that patients have ordered from the menu and this can and does result in a low intake of
calories. The room I was allocated was very cold during the day with noisy air conditioning but excessively hot at night; I believe
that patients using the four rooms that were previously allocated for day patient procedures have regularly complained with no
outcome. On a positive note the consultants are excellent, the issues identified above are detrimental to the service that they
provide. My named nurse for three days and the head of the unit are both caring and conscientious individuals.
 
Client Response:
I have investigated your comments and I would like to answer them as follows:-

1) ‘The standard of cleanliness was poor’

I would like to make you aware that we have a weekly Audit undertaken on Orwell by 2 independent and qualified Auditors. The weekly Audit was conducted during the week of your stay on Wednesday 16th of December 2015 which was your day of discharge that evening. I have obtained the records of that Audit and need to make you aware that your room on that date, whilst you were still an in-patient with us, scored 100%. I wonder if you can give me any further details as to why you felt the rooms were not being cleaned properly so that I can investigate further ?

2) ‘Lack of Governance and pain control’

Re your lack of pain control, on investigation of your medical records and of your medication chart, we note that 5 different doses of intravenous Oxycodone 5 mgs was given by the Anaesthetist during the afternoon. In addition you had oral Paracetamol administered at 18:00 hrs and oral Oxycontin slow release at 20:00 hrs which covers a period of 12 hours. Although Buscopan was prescribed for you on the evening of the 13th by the Medical Practitioner, this is not a routine drug for us to stock and it is also an antispasmodic as opposed to a pain relief medication. The Buscopan was supplied on the morning of the 14th by the Pharmacy Department and I note that you were given doses of this on the 14th as requested. However on the evening of the 13th when you are saying that you were in extreme pain, you were actually administered 4 doses of Oral Morphine (Oramorph) totalling 25 mgs and there is no documentation in your medical records to say that this did not cover your pain.

3) ‘Standard of food’

I note your comments about staff not routinely checking what patients have ordered from the menu. However please be reassured that our Housekeeper is trained and does actually report to the nurse in charge if any patient requests an inappropriate diet for their condition e.g. patient diabetic or is taking a low intake of calories. Please feel reassured that we encourage our patients to be independent and we do not dictate, we can only guide.

4) ‘Cold room during the day’

Re your temperature of the room, we have no control over our climate controlled building which the Cardiothoracic Centre is. To date I have never received a complaint of noise, however I do take your view that the room was cold and I wonder if you made staff aware as I find nothing documented, but we do have facilities to supply additional heating or cooling if required.

Please accept my apologies. I am very sorry that you did not feel that the Unit provided the standard of care that you expected and it is regrettable that during your stay you did not ask to speak to me. I trust that your recovery is now going well and if you can give me any more information relating to your complaint, I would be glad to investigate.


 

Reviewer: Username: Susan Age: 55-0 Location: Lancashire Gender: female Operation or treatment: Illeostomy reversal

Ratings: Outcome of treatment: Quality of care: Value for money: Patient Communication: Hospital/clinic Environment:

 
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