Doctors and nurses hit back at ‘unfair’ comments

Medical and nursing staff at the Urgent Care Centre and Clinical Assessment Unit at Rochdale Infirmary

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Doctors and nursing staff at the Rochdale Infirmary’s Urgent Care Centre have hit back at what they say are ‘unfair’ and ‘untrue’ allegations made by another Doctor about the centre’s service.

Earlier this month Rochdale Online reported that a Doctor working in the new centre said it was ‘very unsafe.’

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/58180/doctor-urgent-care-centre-is-very-unsafe 

The Doctor told us that the there are no plans in place for the centre, there are staffing problems and ‘many mishaps.’

The Urgent Care Centre at Rochdale Infirmary replaced the Accident and Emergency Department and walk-in centre in April. It is open 24/7, 365 days a year. It is run by experienced nurses, nurse practitioners and a GP. They can treat non life-threatening walk-in injuries and ailments, which don’t require an A&E department, but can not wait for a GP or oncall doctor's appointment.

Dr Mark Coates, associate specialist in emergency medicine who works and manages the UCC at Rochdale Infirmary said: “We are very proud of the nurses,
nurse practitioners, GPs and other doctors working within the UCC who are doing an excellent job in providing a service for the people of Rochdale.

“Our staff are being demoralised by a small number of people who are making every effort to generate adverse publicity about the services at Rochdale Infirmary.

“Much of this publicity appears misinformed, but it is difficult or inappropriate for this trust to respond to in the public arena, patient confidentiality issues prevent us from entering into a public debate about many of these issues.

“The safety of patients is the Trust’s top priority and for this reason all incidents or complaints are fully investigated and lessons learnt wherever possible. We hold weekly governance meetings where any items of concern raised are discussed by senior doctors, nurses and managers.

“Clinical and nursing staff are free to raise and /or discuss any issue to be discussed at this meeting and regular feedback is provided.”

Dr Nick Dawes, local GP and medical director at NHS Heywood, Middleton and
Rochdale (PCT) said: “To make such adverse, misinformed and inappropriate comments about the Urgent Care Centre (UCC) is unnecessary and not helpful at a time when we're trying to make sure the public understand the changes at the Rochdale Infirmary.

“We have a hard working and dedicated team at the UCC and training and development is centred around meeting the health needs of the local population. Patients are satisfied with the service they are receiving, there is a better relationship between the hospital and healthcare services in the community, like GP practices, and almost 100 per cent of patients are being seen in less than four hours – one of the best rates in the country.

“And there is no exception to the Clinical Assessment Unit (CAU), which is having fantastic success providing GPs with good access to services.

“Patients are being seen quickly, receiving appropriate diagnostics and care plans and are staying in hospital for less than two days on average. I can only commend the staff for their excellent work and co-operation and communication with GPs.” 

Councillor Jean Ashworth reiterated her view that the borough is left “unsafe.”

She said: “At the end of the day the Trust is suppose to support whistle blowers. I don’t know why they have taken such action against some one who spoke out because they felt unsafe, he felt his colleagues were unsafe and patients were unsafe.”