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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to "mark" my hospital dicharge letter with red teachers pen and send it back?

46 replies

giraffescantboogie · 09/06/2014 23:49

I was discharged yesterday following a severe asthma attack - had to go up today to collect discharge letter.

I write reports about children for my therapy work for SWs/Ed Psych etc and I would get in to trouble if I wrote such factually incorrect info as what Dr has put about me on my discharge letter.

Similar happened in September when I was discharged from same ward. It was slightly worse then - the most crazy being that I was discharged from NHS hospital to a private hospital! I went home!

OP posts:
BrunoBrookesDinedAlone · 10/06/2014 14:22

divegirl -

'Sorry but I would take your post a lot more seriously, if it weren't for the multitude of spelling and grammar mistakes within it.'

  • Your comma here is redundant. This sentence doesn't need a comma at all. A common yet particularly annoying grammatical error.
Fenton · 10/06/2014 14:28

Personally I find starting a post with 'Sorry but....' quite irritating but there you are.

parallax80 · 10/06/2014 14:34

I think accurate discharge summaries are important. As a general principle, because they are part of someone's medical records, but also because they are often the only information available at 3am if someone with a chronic, life-threatening condition pitches up at A&E. Old notes take ages to access - often not kept on site. I would be a lot more worried about someone who I knew had been intubated and ventilated during their last admission than someone who had one round of salbutamol and was discharged from A&E.

Similarly, for those elderly people who attend (especially out of hours) without advocates or much capacity to give a coherent history, previous discharge summaries can be invaluable.

That said, I am also a massive pedant about this kind of thing.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 10/06/2014 14:42

Bruno beat me to it. Grin

Murphy's Law rocks.

CMOTDibbler · 10/06/2014 14:49

A discharge summary is important as they may be the only thing that the patient retains about their hospital stay - or that their family/carer knows. As the child of two very frail parents, including my mums dementia, I know this only too well (between them, prob 20 emergency admissions last year)

offtoseethewizard64 · 10/06/2014 14:57

I have to say I am neither surprised or shocked by your post giraffes. I have on numerous occasions returned discharge letters to Drs/Nurses for amendment before leaving hospital with DD. I'm still sure that DDs hospital notes contain a whole host of inaccuracies, but as she is now on file No7 and they are transported on a trolley, I have no intention of checking them - preferring instead to always accompany her and be her advocate to ensure that each and every Dr/Nurse who has contact with her gets an accurate and up to date picture of her history (DD has severe LD & complex health needs)
x2boys I too failed A level biology, but now have an in depth knowledge of chromosomes that I never learned whilst at school.

giraffescantboogie · 10/06/2014 20:04

I think it is important for my GP - who is amazing and supportive - to know exactly what has happened. It will totally change the way she treats me in the future - this was my most serious attack yet, I have never before had the HDU Drs down to see me. She needs to know how bad I got and how quickly I got there.

OP posts:
FabULouse · 10/06/2014 20:18

This reply has been deleted

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ilovemonstersInc · 10/06/2014 20:22

This really is shocking!

Next time ds is in I will definitely ask to see his hospital notes! Hes in an awful lot but never thought they wouldput wrong information down!

Giraffe hope your feeling better

giraffescantboogie · 10/06/2014 20:33

Found another error, it says that "for 24 hours prior to admission she had worsening chest pain, shortness of breath and cough". BOLLOCKS. Utter bollocks! That is how I usually am before an attack, this one however I was totally fine, then walked from car to hall - 2min walk normally and became very breathless, went up the stairs slowly and by time I got to the top was gasping and couldn't catch breath. Have never had such a sudden one out of no where before, and one that required such a high level of treatment to help.

OP posts:
x2boys · 10/06/2014 21:20

Offtoseewizard I,m a nurse too but a mental health nurse so fortunately I only had one biology exam during my training which I failed miserably on the first attempt as I got the cardiac cycle upside down and back to front and only passed on the second attempt by the skin of my teeth but since I found out about Ds chromosome disorder I could probably write a thesis on chromosome ,s ! Ds has learning difficulties and is autistic .

WandaFuca · 10/06/2014 21:39

Completely unacceptable. Accuracy is essential, most especially about people's health.

My last job in the NHS was as a typist associated with theatres. There was a form to be completed for each patient - patient details/surgeon/other staff/procedure, etc. Those forms were archived, as they were regarded as a legal document, detailing what was done to whom and who by and who else was present. Sometimes the box for the procedure was left blank; sometimes it was filled in, in advance, but the actual procedure was different (laparoscopic converted to an open, for example). Quite often, the signatures were just vague squiggles, which I'm sure they wouldn't have got away with if they signed their cheques that way.

And yet, every time a patient made a complaint, their theatre form was quickly retrieved, as that was supposed to inform the investigation as to what actually happened.

My job was to type up brief dictations that the surgeon did immediately after each operation. Sometimes I'd get calls from the ward asking for the typed note a.s.a.p.; sometimes I'd get calls from the GP asking for the note to be faxed through. I started off thinking that the operation notes were just a useful add-on, but got to realise that in some cases that was important info for those caring for patients post-op.

The deficiencies were obvious, even to a lowly typist such as myself, but the worst thing was realising it must be obvious to everyone else, but no-one did anything about it.

Sirzy · 10/06/2014 21:42

thats scary, its almost as if they couldn't be arsed reading the notes so have just wrote the standard asthma attack treatment down on the letter

windchime · 10/06/2014 22:14

I am half expecting him to be called for a smear test when he is 16.

You will have to wait until he is 25 for that little bit of excitement.

windchime · 10/06/2014 22:17

but as she is now on file No7 and they are transported on a trolley

I am a nurse. Medical Records would never, in a million years, send 7 sets of notes for one patient. It just doesn't work like that.

giraffescantboogie · 11/06/2014 06:43

I have seen people who have huge sets of files brought in by trolley, so yes it can work like that.

OP posts:
Sirzy · 11/06/2014 07:14

DS is only 4 and they currently bring out 3 sets for him so if it wasn't for the fact they are moving to electronic then in the next few years he could easily get to 7!

I can always tell when he is about to be called in at clinics because his file is so much bigger than the rest in the pile generally!

racmun · 11/06/2014 07:22

I wouldn't mark it in red pen but I would definitely complain.

Dd was in special care after she was born and discharged after 3 weeks. There were so many errors on her discharge letter- got her date and time of birth wrong as well as many other things including conflicting advice.

I complained straight away
I then got a very grovelling phone call from the head of the department who had previously been very dismissive and had a correct letter issued within a day or so.

You should get it corrected as it is in your file forever

pipsy76 · 11/06/2014 07:29

My mum spent the weekend in hospital, her nursing assessment tops sheet stated she was Male!

x2boys · 11/06/2014 08:13

I don't understand why all hospital notes are not electronic tbh as a mental health nurse our notes have been computerised for about eight years prior to that nurses,doctors social workers all had their own notes now we all just add to the same.

ChatEnOeuf · 11/06/2014 09:56

That is pretty unacceptable - your GP (and ED, should you pitch up in the future, unable to speak) needs to know you were a whisker away from HDU care, having had all the bells and whistles in ED this time. So many juniors are poor at writing discharges, as far as I'm aware it isn't in the curriculum at medical school - like so many elements of the job.

I'm something of a pedant as well, parralax and make it my business to know the ins and outs of all of the patients in my care. I hate not knowing why something happened or their course of treatments. When transporting patients it's often commented that I know them really well, like this is unusual. It's probably a control thing...

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