“Hospital services are in complete chaos,” says angry relative

A Rochdale man has spoken of his anger following the treatment his relative received at a recent hospital visit.

Reggie Lane, contacted Rochdale Online following a visit to the Royal Oldham Hospital – where he and his relative had been redirected.

Mr Lane said: “I am aware that our hospital services are in complete chaos. However, this does not excuse the hospital authorities for the poor care that a relative of mine had to suffer recently.”

He explained: “This relative was directed towards the Royal Oldham Hospital to attend the new surgical triage unit.

“I thought the idea of a triage service was for an initial assessment to be made virtually on entry. Not so for this hospital's management, as the triage nurse didn't see my relative until 10.45pm.

“But what made for an even more unpleasant experience was the fact that there was no cubicle made available - the triage assessment was made in public in the waiting room.

“Following on from this, moves were made to take x-rays and bloods, but my relative was kept waiting with little information provided. At 1.00am in the morning the information finally came through that there was no room at the inn.”

Mr Lane continued: “As there were no beds available my relative was sent home. But here is the catch; the expectation was for this person to be back at the surgical unit at 8.00am the next morning.

“On arrival the next morning, after some difficulties in arranging transport to get back to Oldham at such an early time, there was a further wait for two hours.

“It was assumed at this stage that one of the doctor's would be arriving for 10.00am. They did, but said they were too busy to be bothered to see my relative. After this false dawn the wait did not end until 12.00pm, when the consultant finally arrived.

“Discharge was granted at 2.45pm: so nine hours of a wait to see a doctor, 12 hours as a total experience.”

Describing the experience, Mr Lane, said: “An utter mess, although we have sympathy for the nursing team. They were running around with a sense of helplessness.”

Mr Lane concluded: “How much more can the public take of this?”

A spokesman for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said, "The Surgical Triage Unit (STU) is set up to provide a service for patients who attend A&E at Rochdale Infirmary or The Royal Oldham Hospital, as well as GP referrals to the surgeons.

"This is a very new service and there are some teething problems. We are very sorry to hear of this patient's experience which has clearly fallen short of the service we aim to provide.

"A full review of the service is currently being undertaken by a senior manager and a consultant surgeon. We have identified areas for improvement and a number of changes have already been made, specifically in response to patient privacy and dignity issues.

"We envisage the service soon becoming much more streamlined and responsive to patients with surgical problems.

"Should this patient or their relative wish to contact us directly we would be more than willing to discuss the issues raised and provide a full response."