Patients kept waiting ‘for over 48 hours’ at UHW assessment unit

CALLS for “significant changes” at University Hospital Wales’ assessment unit are being made after claims some patients had been kept waiting there for longer than 48 hours in uncomfortable conditions.

Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Community Health Council visited the unit on September 2 after patients and carers told the CHC about long waits on uncomfortable chairs or trolleys, sometimes without food or hot drinks, and lack of communication from staff.

One patient who was in “agony” had waited from 6pm in the unit until 2am the following morning – only to be told by a doctor to come back the next day during an incident in July, the CHC was told before the visit.

The CHC’s visit found patients were waiting on uncomfortable chairs for hours on end, while others were being kept on trolleys for long periods – stating they were uncomfortable, cold and lacked pillows.

Seven patients or carers said they had been waiting for longer than 48 hours, while the CHC said the unit is “wholly unsatisfactory for anything but a short wait of one to two hours”.

A further four people had been there between 24 and 48 hours, nine people had waited between eight and 24 hours and five people had been there for less than eight hours, a CHC survey found.

The visitors said one patient on a drip had waited on a chair for about 20 hours for a bed to become available.

During the unannounced visit one elderly patient was allegedly shouted at by a nurse, in an incident the CHC has described as “particularly concerning”.

Visitors also found the unit was “grim, noisy and depressing” as there were no windows, some lights were not working, the hot drinks machine was out of order and the vending machine was almost empty.

It has made 12 recommendations to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board to improve patient experiences at the unit, including reviewing processes so no-one should have to sit on trolleys for more than 12 hours or six hours in a chair.

The health board says it is looking into the findings of the report – and that some issues identified can be fixed “quickly”.

Stephen Allen, chief officer of the CHC, said the visit shows there is an “enormous amount of work to be done” at the unit.

He said: “One of our main concerns is that patients are often left waiting on chairs for long periods of time, resulting in discomfort.

“The location of the waiting area is wholly unsatisfactory for an extended period, and there is no privacy for conversations or treatment and the lack of provision which would enable patients to relax when they are feeling unwell.

“Our report highlights that patients are also often left without food and no hot drinks for long periods of time, and their companions and carers are frequently not offered anything at all.

“We find this to be especially worrying, as all those waiting should be considered in this respect.

“Especially worrying was the overarching culture of the department. One particularly concerning example is a patient who was shouted at by a member of staff while the visiting team were present.

“While this is unacceptable, more concerning was that at no point did any other clinician or management intervene to ask why this was happening, which begs the question of whether this behaviour is deemed acceptable in the department.”