West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, makes rapid improvements and apologises over incident involving ‘lack of care and compassion from staff’

A Suffolk hospital has made rapid improvements and apologised after an incident involving a ‘lack of care and compassion from staff’.

Minutes from a board meeting of the trust which runs West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, revealed despite initial good treatment, the patient’s discharge process was unpleasant due to breakdowns in communication and a lack of care.

After the patient left hospital in January 2023, their family complained to the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s (WSFT) Patient advice and liaison service (PALS).

In the minutes from the meeting in January, the trust said: “It was noted that the discharge of this patient was not at the standard it should be and there were failures across the discharge process.”

PALS apologised on behalf of WSFT, which said: “The complaints process has helped some significant learning for the trust.”

The trust minutes said: “Although there was a process issue, it was the lack of care and compassion from the staff that was significant and is what needs to be focused on.”

“The board noted that the incident prompted various, rapid improvement initiatives.”

These included modifications to discharge areas and increased staffing.

The discharge waiting area now has beds, as well as chairs, for patients waiting to go home and volunteers help out with food and drink requests.

To help with overall satisfaction, staff are now shown the complaints that are received by the hospital to help impact on future patient care experience.

Dr Ewen Cameron, chief executive for WSFT, said: “I am very sorry for the care this patient experienced while they were with us.

“All our patients deserve the highest quality and safest care, and we know it was simply not good enough.

“During this period the trust was experiencing huge demand for its services, coupled with significant staffing challenges.

“Since then, we have improved our discharge waiting area, including increased staffing, relocation to a larger space, with better facilities, and our volunteers are on hand to offer patients food and drink while they wait.”