I finally got down to writing my complaint letter to TTSH yesterday afternoon at work... Chitra sat next to me and we were trying to phrase evything nicely... after she left I was still fine tuning it before send it to a few people... Anyway, here's how my complaint letter looked like...
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: -= rAcHeL =-
Dear Staff of TTSH,
I am writing to you with regards to an unpleasant experience that my family and I had to endure when we were at the A&E Department on 29 September 07 (Sat) approximately between 2.30pm to 6pm.
My grandfather, Mr Khoo Cheng Ban Barnabas, had a referral letter by our family doctor as she suspected that his condition was not favourable. As such, we visited TTSH's A&E department at about 2.30pm to register him to be examined.
As the hospital’s policy stated that only 1 visitor was allowed into the A&E area with the patient, only my mum accompanied him in while I was at the waiting area with the rest of my family members. Due to the crowd, they had to wait for about an hour or so before my grandfather was being able to be examined by the doctor, who then suggested that it would be advisable to admit him for further observation.
While we were waiting for the admission, my mum decided to leave our maid with him instead as the waiting was taking too long. Due to the hospital’s policy, she then approached the nurses at the screening station to change the tags between herself and our maid.
As it was our maid’s 1st time at the A&E, she wasn’t sure of where to go as the nurses had earlier wheeled my grandfather to the “waiting area”. Because of this, my mum wanted to accompany her in to show her where my grandfather was so as to ensure that she did not get lost and that my grandfather did not end up being alone.
My mum then approached your security personnel, Mr Raymond Ho, who was standing at the entrance around 5.10pm, to ask if she could bring my maid in to only show her the way to the “waiting area”. However, instead of being tactful and polite in his manner of answer, Mr Ho replied and I quote "No No cannot only 1 person can go in. We cannot allow more than 1 person to wait with the patient. You think this is a Sunday City Walk is it?"
My mum was taken aback with Mr Ho’s sarcastic reply and asked him how was she to be assured that her maid knew exactly where to go and not end up lost as there were more than 20 patients waiting to be warded at that moment. My mum is aware and understands that only 1 visitor can accompany the patient; however she also explained to Mr Ho that she needs to make sure that everything was ok and that her maid was with her father-in-law before she leaves the both of them. Once again Mr Ho snapped back "No no cannot!" and instructed my maid to follow the blue arrow which would eventually lead her to the “waiting area”.
My mum then came over to where we were and related this incident to me. I advised her to approach one of the nurses to ask if she could accompany our maid in again as she was worried that our maid wouldn’t know where to go. After much persuasion with the nurses, 1 of them finally agreed to bring my mum in. Just as what she had expected, while walking in, my mum spotted my maid standing at a corner looking lost and didn’t know where to go to look for my grandfather. After having to go through this whole ordeal, my mum was finally able to direct her maid to where my grandfather was before coming out to meet us.
Please could you address the following and also advice me on the measure / actions that would be taken to rectify it.
1) Have or will your security personals and other staff gone or will go through any form of training / course to ensure that they are equipped with the ability and knowledge on how to react to such a situation and liaise with visitors or patients of the hospital?
2) I understand your 1 accompanying visitor per patient policy and appreciate that the hospital is trying their best to take the necessary precautions. However, Mr Ho could have been more empathetic and tried to understand the situation on hand on that day instead of passing such an uncalled for comment. He should have also listened and understand what my mum was requesting instead of putting her down.
As mentioned earlier, our maid was unable to locate where my grandfather was before my mum found her. Who then should be responsible if my grandfather had needed one of us to be with him on that day during that point of time? Who would also be responsible should anything happen to our maid or if she had gotten lost?
3) Visitors who are accompanying the patient into the A&E area are asked to wear a wrist tag. How does your security personals know which visitor is being tagged to a patient as there is no indication on the wrist tags and there were many people wearing wrist tags walking in and out the A&E area at any one time? I noticed that no checks were done to ensure that the hospital’s 1 visitor per patient policy was carried out religiously.
4) If your policy states that only 1 visitor is allowed per patient because the hospital is afraid of contamination that people would be bring into the hospital’s vicinity, how does this apply to the police officers, hospital helpers, civil defence personnel or even the cleaners stationed within the hospital as well as those who come in due to accident or criminal cases?
Are they not walking in and out of that area the whole time? No worries about them not being contaminated? Or just because they are wearing a uniform or have a hospital tag on a lanyard around their neck or a stethoscope hanging around somewhere does it mean that they are an employee of TTSH or a person of authority and can walk in and out freely? Is there any rationale to this? Does this imply that if anyone has a uniform, hospital pass or some equipment hanging on me means that they can also walk in and out that area freely?
Your Mission states that TTSH reaches out to the community by doing your best to serve, care and heal. And together, you aim for excellence in cost-effective healthcare, education and research.
Your values – Compassion which is your paramount concern about the welfare and well being of your fellow human beings. And that you sympathise with those struck by illness and suffering and will do your best to help alleviate their conditions.
Collegiality - You nurture success by promoting collaboration, participation and trust between individuals and other healthcare organisations, within an environment of sharing and mutual respect.
Respect - By treat everyone with honesty, decency and fairness.
Integrity - You are committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct.
Social Responsibility - You contribute positively to the well being and welfare of the community.Professionalism - Committed to being the best in what we do, and achieving the best possible outcomes for your patients
Looking at your Mission statement and Values, I regret to inform that not everyone within your company practices what your mission and values preaches. It only takes 1 black sheep to tarnish the company’s image. Perhaps, it would be beneficial to your company, to send your staff for counselling or courses to educate them on how to communicate better. After all, a hospital is also a service provider and people from all walks of life and countries do visit TTSH be it to get treated or visit someone. I’m sure this is not the kind of impression TTSH would like to leave imprinted in the minds of patients or their visitors.
We can understand that precautions and measures have to be implemented and carried out so as to maintain order and also minimise any form of contamination within the A&E Area. However, we are utterly disappointed with the way we were treated by Mr Ho and how this whole situation was being handled. I am also appalled with the kind of behaviour exercised by him.
No one goes to the hospital for no reason and especially not for a “Sunday City Walk”. Besides coping with the stress, grief and urgency on hand, we do not need external factors such as what my family had to put up with to agitate and anger us further. I hope that this is an isolated incident and I believe that no one should be given this kind of treatment. I also hope that the next time Mr Ho says No to anyone, he truly understands the situation on hand.
Unfortunately, my grandfather is still warded in TTSH and due to this unpleasant incident, we are now worried about the treatment he receives from the staff of TTSH. I certainly hope that something would be done to educate your staff as well as improve the service provided and that this feedback will help TTSH move forward.
Yours sinecerely,
Ms Rachel Khoo
Singapore 682691
0 comments:
Post a Comment