University Hospital of North Tees A&E and Urgent Care Enter and View Report - 2020

Summary

Healthwatch Stockton-on-Tees gathers feedback from the public about their views and experience of local health and social care services via the Information and Signposting service and engagement activities.

The team identified that a number of complaints had been received via the Stockton Independent Complaints Service about the care and treatment received at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) and Urgent Care departments at the University Hospital of North Tees.

The aim was to carry out an Enter & View to gather patient and staff feedback regarding provision of services at the University Hospital of North Tees in the A&E and Urgent Care department to determine if any recommendations can be made to improve patient experience.

Healthwatch Stockton-on-Tees carried out Enter & View visits to the A&E and Urgent Care departments at the University Hospital of North Tees on Friday 11th October 2019 and Monday 14th October 2019. Staff and volunteers gathered patient feedback using questionnaires. The first questionnaire was given to patients to fill out whilst they were waiting to be seen and a second questionnaire was given to the patients with a freepost envelope to complete and return after their treatment.

The team gathered feedback from 77 patients, 30% of whom were in A&E and 70% were in Urgent Care.

• During busy periods, patients were queuing for up to 30 minutes at Reception
• The room was very warm and oppressive
• The was no water fountain available
• There was little space in the waiting room for wheelchair users
• There was no audio patient call for anyone with sight impairment
• Signage was generally poor
• There was no TV monitor in urgent care

The majority of people who we spoke to were happy with the service being provided and most were very complimentary about the staff on duty. However there were exceptions to this.

Over the course of the weekend most patients were attended to within two hours of their arrival at the hospital and were generally accepting of the time they had to wait to be seen although several did tell us that they would like to be given more information about anticipated waiting times and to be kept updated whilst waiting to be seen.