Paul’s Experience: “We’ve lost trust in the hospital, they failed Becky”
Paul and his wife live in Greenwich with their 49-year-old daughter Becky. Becky has a rare neurological condition and relies on a daily cocktail of 11 different prescribed medications to keep her well. “With Becky’s condition it’s really important she takes her medication on time,” Paul said. ’It cannot be skipped at any cost.”
After a fall at home Becky broke her leg and was admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital as she needed surgery. “The first thing we did was to give the list of medication to the paramedics taking her because of the severity of her health issues. It is life or death matter.” Paul added.
When she got admitted to the ward - once again, we informed the nurses about her medication, but they ignored us.
Becky’s parents emphasised the importance of her medications to staff during the ambulance ride to the hospital. Ambulance staff advised her parents to speak to hospital staff on arrival. On admission, Becky’s parents told hospital staff about the importance of her medications.
“When she got admitted to the ward - once again, we informed the nurses about her medication, but they ignored us” said Paul “Even Becky herself told them, but they just waved us away – dismissed us - as if what we were telling them wasn’t important. We kept trying to tell the nurses on the ward, but they just didn’t want to know.”
Becky didn’t receive her prescribed medication and after surgery, Becky's health took a turn for the worse. Becky was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. “I was seeing my daughter lose her life day by day. We were losing her because no one listened to us.” After a worrying time, Becky recovered and a few weeks later, was well enough to go home.
Both Becky and her parents were left traumatised by the experience. “We’ve lost trust in the hospital, they failed Becky and put her at risk because they didn’t listen to us about her medication. We felt helpless. We kept trying to tell them how important her medication was – but they just ignored us.”
Becky is fearful about needing to be admitted to Queen Elizabeth hospital in the future. “I know I will fall again in the future. If I do fall, I’ll probably break a bone again because my medication is making my bones more fragile,” said Becky. "Sooner or later, I will fall again. I'd like to think that I could go into my local hospital safely and not risk ending up in intensive care because they won’t listen to me about what prescribed medication, I need to take to keep me well.”
Provider Response:
Response from Lewisham and Greenwich Trust
We are working hard to improve our patient experience and welcome all feedback that helps us on our improvement journey. It’s gratifying to see some of the positive feedback coming through this month from those who have attended Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and who have been treated by our dedicated and attentive colleagues, and from those who have been seen promptly despite local and national emergency pathways being challenged overall.
We’re very sorry to hear about Becky’s experience when she attended QEH. We take what has happened here very seriously and at present we are investigating the circumstances that led to this. As we’re keen to address the medication issue directly with Becky, Paul and the family, we’d encourage them to contact us via PALS if they haven’t already, as this will help with our investigation and allow us to issue them with a response directly. PALS for QEH can be reached at pals.qeht@nhs.net or on the phone at 020 8836 4592.
As ever, we are grateful to Healthwatch and all their service users for the help and feedback they provide.
