A&E Eastbourne District General Hospital

Dear Janet,

Thank you for taking the time to leave us some helpful feedback about your recent experience of the Emergency Department (ED) at Eastbourne District General Hospital; we do appreciate it. The Trust strives to provide a high and timely standard of care for all patients in what has been, and continues to be, challenging times, and particularly for our ED's who are receiving high volumes of patient attendance.

We are therefore disappointed to read you felt there was no personal touch or any indication of how long you may have to wait to be seen as this does support our values of kindness and compassion, nor our wish to communicate effectively with patients. Staff do endeavour to help patients feel cared for whilst they wait and keep them updated with waiting times but as you will appreciate, increases in patient attendance both informally and via emergency admission can continually impact on this. We will ask the Heads of Nursing to remind staff to check on patients and ensure they do not feel left to their own devices and we are exploring how best to use screens in the ED to keep patients up-to-date with key information.

It is also concerning to read your observation of staff not wearing face masks; it is mandatory for staff to wear a face mask in all clinical areas, and we will ask the Chief of Service for the ED's to remind staff of this requirement. On a positive note, we are delighted to read that when you saw a doctor, you had a greatly improved experience of care.

We very much hope you have now recovered from the symptoms that required your attendance at the ED, and are keeping well. Take care, and keep safe.

Thank you for taking the time to leave us some feedback about your observations whilst under the care of the Emergency Department (ED) at Eastbourne District General Hospital; we appreciate the time you have taken to share your comments through this forum, and would like to apologise for the concerns and upset you experienced as this is not how the Trust would want any patient to feel.

As you will be aware from the national press our ED's, as with those up and down the country, are experiencing ever increasing rates of patient attendance for a wide range of illnesses and injuries and understandably emergency or life-threatening/changing attendances often need to be prioritised. ED attendances are unpredictable, and this does mean we cannot always forecast with accuracy the length of time patients have to wait to be seen, or cared for until discharge is appropriate. However, we are sorry that you incurred a seven hour wait.

In terms of your observations of staff in what you describe as small groups chatting, it is important to remember that the congregation of staff and the act of conversation you saw may have been a clinical huddle where staff were discussing new patients, proposed care plans or other clinical updates. Additionally, a great many staff in the ED do not have the opportunity to take a break during their shift and a brief conversation with colleagues in the department may be the only the chance they have to converse on non-work matters.

On 7 July 2022, the Trust reintroduced the requirement for face masks to be worn in all clinical settings, but it is possible that this message had not reached all staff at the time of your attendance in the ED for various reasons including absence due to illness or annual leave, and shift patterns. Nevertheless, this and the vital need to maintain hand hygiene at all times are matters we will take up the Heads of Nursing and the Chief of Emergency and Urgent Care to discuss with staff. Additionally, we will ask them to remind staff that conversations relating non-work matters should take place in an appropriate area away from patients.

Turning now to your comments about the lack of comfortable seating for relatives and the absence of facilities, the Trust wishes to explain that when the ED was designed, it was not intended that patients and their relatives incur the length of wait that they do now and from a health and safety perspective, we require functional seating that can be easily cleaned. Our hospitals have coffee shops and restaurants providing a variety of refreshments, sweet shops and a range of vending machines but as explained above, the increase in patient attendances will result in facilities being exhausted a great deal sooner than anticipated and operational pressures may result in a delay in these facilities being replenished. However, we are sorry that you found the coffee machine did not work.

In terms of the car parking machines not working and a broken lock on the cubicle door in the men's toilets, these issues may have already been reported and were awaiting repairs, or staff were not aware of them. However, we will share your feedback with our Estates and Facilities Department so that they can review and, as necessary, update the frequency of facility checks.

Finally, please be aware that each shift in the ED is led by a Head of Nursing, a Matron, a Senior Sister or a senior member of the Medical Team, and are available to speak to any patient or relative who wishes to speak about their experience or observations, and patients are also encouraged to complete a Friends and Family Test (FFT) survey about their experience of care.

We are sorry that you have had cause to raise numerous concerns based on your observations of the ED, and we apologise for your experience. We hope you have, or are making, a comfortable recovery from the symptoms that warranted your attendance, and wish you well. Take care and keep safe.

Thank you for taking the time to leave some feedback about your experience of attending the Emergency Department (ED) at Eastbourne District General Hospital during the Easter bank holiday weekend; we do appreciate it.

The Trust strives to provide a high and responsive standard of care to all patients at what continues to be an extremely busy and challenging time, especially for our ED's, and we are both disappointed and sorry to read of your experience. It must have been a worrying and uncomfortable time for you whilst you waited with the symptoms you described, and we apologise for this.

As you will appreciate, our ED's regularly see high volumes of patients attending for a wide range of illnesses and injuries with varying degrees of urgency that we cannot predict, sometimes in life threatening situations, and regrettably this does impact on waiting times despite our best efforts to keep the patient flow moving as quickly as resources and capacity allow. You will also appreciate that in more recent times, our ED's are seeing an increase in attendances due to patient difficulties accessing primary care and this adds to our ED waiting times. We have recently introduced an eTriage system in our ED's to help patient flow and we hope, in time, this will enhance the care we provide in a timely and appropriate manner.

We very much hope you have now received the care and treatment you require for your ear infection, and are feeling better; please take care and keep well.