Staff shortage at hospital unit

Bosses at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust said it was recruiting more staff after Healthwatch Wakefield visited the acute assessment unit.

During visits to the unit in January and February, Healthwatch found that most patients said they were satisfied with care on the unit.

But when questioned further, they reported experiences of poor care.

One patient said: “Nobody comes to help. Wet bed four times.” Another said: “Feel neglected.”

Healthwatch’s inspection report said a diabetic patient was lefit for at least six hours without food or drink and was “drifting in and out of conciousness.”

Delays in getting medicines were also reported. A patient said: “Should have had medicines at 5pm but didn’t get them until 10pm.”

Some patients were on the unit because they were waiting or a bed and others were waiting to go home.

One patient said: “Waiting for transport to go home since last night.”

Some 52.9 per cent of patients said they were looked after “very well” and 63 per cent gave staff five stars for their attitude.

Fiona Smith lead nurse for quality and patient experience, said: “We have a robust action plan in place on AAU which is helping staff to focus on the areas that require improvement, and in particular areas which impact on patient safety. “