Would you complain?

[NCPuffin]

We went to A&E yesterday with our 6 day old son. We were seen in triage and sent to the postnatal ward. When we got there, I noticed the ID tag that had been put on our baby's ankle had the wrong name on it. Our baby's first name and DoB were correct, but the last name wasn't. I have a non-British surname, and when I was in theatre for my caesarean someone commented that they'd had someone with a surname from the same country in that morning for a caesarean as well. They mentioned this person's name; this was the name on my baby's ankle tag.

I think I know what happened: the A&E receptionist asked our son's DoB, which was the same as the other baby's. They then asked his first name, which by coincidence also seems to be the same as the other baby's. When she asked my surname she said she'd found it on the computer before I'd finished spelling it out. The first three letters are the same (think Du in Du Maurier for example), so she must have selected the wrong one. The nurse who triaged our baby just referred to him by his first name, and as we were the only ones waiting we didn't question or check it. I only noticed when he was being assessed on the postnatal ward, but it turned out that he had been booked under the wrong name and all his notes were labelled with the other baby's ID stickers. Fortunately they got most of his information from his paper records, which were his.

The doctor looked shocked and quite horrified when she discovered what had happened and explained they had filed an incident report. I don't want anyone to get into trouble, but I am really not happy with what happened, as it could have had very serious consequences if I hadn't picked up on it (our baby is unwell and losing weight, and one of the weights they had listed for him initially was from the other baby, who was two pounds lighter at birth). It's also a considerable breach of data protection and a safety issue. I am considering complaining to PALS to make sure appropriate measures are put in place/ reinforced to avoid this happening again. Does this sound reasonable, or should I just be glad nothing bad happened and leave it at that?

I think I would leave it as it is, the hospital are aware of it and are looking into it.

I work in the NHS and if the doctor has filed an incident report be assured it will be taken very seriously by Information Governance. You could follow it up with PALS who can check that the doctor has actually filed a report

I would follow it up with Pals.

@WakeUpFromYourDreamAndScream She said she'd filed a Datix report, does that mean anything to you? I can't remember if she said she had to specify how they rectified the mistake or how they would prevent it from happening again

Sorry @NCPuffin I've just seen this. No that doesn't mean anything to me but it could just be their internal name for the forms etc. Did you follow it up with PALS?

A quick google says Datix is the official reporting for patient safety, so as the doctor said she was filing one, then I'd be assured it was being managed appropriately.

Yes a Datix is right. A trust I used to work for used them. It will be taken very seriously and followed up.

They have coloured labels which highlight there is a patient with the same or similar name, I've seen them used. They have put in a datix report which will be investigated and they should come up with a plan of reducing the risk of this happening again, that may already be in place, they will look at their policies and know if the receptionist followed the correct procedure.

@HoleyCoMoley I've not seen them used here, and I'd imagine they would've been considering I and the mother of the similarly named baby had caesareans within hours of each other.

I haven't followed anything up with PALS yet, as our baby is still in special care and I'm spending my days with him. I'm planning on raising it with PALS, to check it's being dealt with, but not to complain. I have noticed that all the staff involved in our care know what's happened, which suggests the hospital is dealing with it.