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Exclusive: Patients brand Mayday Hospital worst in London
6:17am Wednesday 14th May 2008
Patients have branded Mayday Hospital the worst in London.
A damning survey of the experiences of people receiving treatment at the London Road hospital put it at the bottom of the heap in the capital.
Patients were asked a total of 50 questions about admissions, wards, doctors, nurses and treatment.
The scores given for 40 of those were among the bottom 20 per cent of responses for hospitals across the Greater London area.
No other trust had as many poor scores in so many fields.
The Healthcare Commission report found that doctors gave patients answers they could not understand and did not wash their hands in between seeing different patients as often as they should.
Patients also had the same concerns about nurses.
They also said they were given mixed messages about their treatment, that not enough information was given and that the overall level of care given was substandard.
The report will be a severe blow to Mayday, which has spent the past few years desperately trying to improve its reputation.
It is in the process of applying for foundation status, which would give it more control over its budgets but that application is likely to be delayed until at least April next year, even though the Trust's finances have been brought under control by chief executive Helen Whalley.
Ms Whalley admitted in a statement there were a number of areas where Mayday "could do better".
She added: "Mayday is a very busy hospital and many of our patients report to us on the excellent care they receive and the positive outcomes of their treatment.
"However, this is not always the case and this survey demonstrates a number of areas where we can do better.
"The survey relates to treatment in the summer of 2007. We have known about these issues for some time and I have been personally involved in a programme of quality improvement which is beginning to demonstrate positive change."
The trust said it drawn up new policies and charters to help tackle some of the problem areas and that it was carrying out a review of staff to get more people to the areas where they are needed most.
Ms Whalley added: "Our ongoing programme of quality improvements is addressing all of those issues which patients and staff have told us about.
"Progress is being made across all areas.
"However, I will not be satisfied until the experience of every patient is as good as the best.
"We know we can offer excellent services, and frequently do, but we have to make sure that we are consistent and that means getting it right all of the time."
Councillor Simon Hall, the council's shadow cabinet member for health, said: "It is absolutely essential that a huge amount of work is done by Mayday and the PCT to improve the hospital so it is providing the service that the people of Croydon need and deserve.
"Clearly, there needs to be a lot of work done by the PCT and the hospital to remedy the situation as a matter of urgency."
Councillor Margaret Mead, the council's health spokeswoman, refused to comment.
- What do you think? How have you been treated at Mayday? Let us know in the comments section below.
Your Say YourLocal Guardian
In the know, Around Croydon says...
8:51am Wed 14 May 08
Too many persons attending casualty for minor nonsense they could spit on, put a plaster over and forget.
Too many overseas mature students jamming up the wards with HiV/TB and like.
Too many overseas patients abusing the healthcare system of this Country.
Then we have the way some patients relate to staff and the hospital: Treating nurses like skivvies, making unecessary racist remarks. Other patients going out on the booze or down the betting shop.
Thyen we have ineffectual staff. Managers who have 'jobs for the boys' - ever thought about employing a manager for incontinence? Or foreign nurses whose professionalism is at odds with our expectations: for instance there is no accountability or traceability in Africa and it shows. Phillipino nurses are excellent.
There's no perception of barrier techniques, there's bolshiness between different departments - especially Casualty and anywhere else (they watch a certain misrepresentation of A&E on Saturdays) and then there's the medical staff.......
To cap it all there's all the visitors coming in with dirty bags, unwashed hands who sit all over the beds, sometime climb in with patients, get a group of ten or more visitors around one patient and threaten staff when they are asked to leave 3 or 4 hours after visiting time ends because sick patients are complaining about the noise and general behaviour.
Something wrong with Mayday? As I said, look at those who use, and abuse, the hospital before you denegrate a sizeable medical facility.
Councillor Simon Hall earn your wedge and actually analyse the reasons before you start making remarks about something you know jack-sh*t about.
Jean, london says...
9:42am Wed 14 May 08
ANNE GILES, SELSDON says...
10:05am Wed 14 May 08
LINDA, mitcham says...
11:11am Wed 14 May 08
Bob Peel, Croydon says...
11:38am Wed 14 May 08
No wonder my contributions have gone up. If its dragged on that long there's nothing wrong with you :)
Jean, london says...
12:11pm Wed 14 May 08
Jean, London says...
12:14pm Wed 14 May 08
also in the know, not mayday says...
1:38pm Wed 14 May 08
Why is it ambulance crew will not take patients there?
Why do you think? There are far superior hospitals and facilities a few miles further!! For the mundane things like colds and 'flu, broken toe nails et al mayday is just the place, but for Trauma, cardiac or neuro mayday just cannot deal with.
Kes, Upper Norwood says...
3:09pm Wed 14 May 08
ANNE GILES wrote:So you got it "sorted out"? I think you ought to be in government- they need people like you.
I have been going there since 2002 or 2003 for regular blood tests. There was a problem at one time in the Phlebotomy Dept. with staff not disinfecting the area around the vein with the patients - nor cleaning their hands. However, I did write in and it was sorted out. The new Phlebotomy Dept. is excellent. Although I was seeing my Haematologist privately, I now see her on the NHS and was very impressed with the Outpatients Dept. - the friendly receptionist and nursing staff, and the fact that the wait is not long at all.
ANNE GILES, SELSDON says...
4:53pm Wed 14 May 08
Bob - I am glad you put a smiley on your post. Let me explain. I have a bone marrow disease which can kill me. My blood has to be monitored constantly and I live on a mild form of chemotherapy which dries up my skin, my hair, etc. and I can no longer use shampoo or soap. I wash my hands with special cream and my hair with conditioner. I would rather be well and not have to live on drugs and I don't really enjoy having needles stuck in my arm. The disease causes my platelets to go up constantly, which can cause a major stroke. It really isn't funny at all, but I know you didn't mean to cause offence.
Jack Williams, Croydon says...
5:48pm Wed 14 May 08
marie, says...
8:25pm Wed 14 May 08
In the know, Around Croydon, you are absolutely right! The problem is the people who use the place...They dont even respect people who works in Mayday.
john, says...
8:38pm Wed 14 May 08
Malcolm, North Croydon says...
8:00am Thu 15 May 08
"We have known about these for some time"
Well why has she and the Chairman of Mayday
done nothing about them-after the last daming report on Mayday Materity were this department was rated in the bottom six(6) in all England...this lattest patent report indicates that Mayday is not being "Led or managed with the skills and committment" we the public would expect...Its about time someone took responsability for these failures and RESIGNED?
Pancho'2, North Croydon says...
8:08am Thu 15 May 08
only after a robust discussion was I give 2 tissues...is this the service we can now expect from the Mayday NHS Trust which was supposed to be free at the point of service.
Pancho2, North Croydon says...
8:15am Thu 15 May 08
"you can get them in the entrance shop downstairs"
sorry for my bad typing but my right hand is all raped up in bandage!!!
ANNE GILES, SELSDON says...
9:07am Thu 15 May 08
derek harper, croydon says...
3:48pm Thu 15 May 08
You only need privately ask the GP's in the area and most of them would condemn the place.
The hospital is shocking, both now and over the last 40 years.
The solution - train the staff properly, give them the resources they need, stop every other nation from sucking the NHS dry and educate people in how to behave in a hospital or remove them.
The doctors I am sure are incredibly talented and hard working but they are in a no win situation, unless they get the support they drastically need from the government, council and its local community the place will never improve.
anonymous, says...
7:19pm Thu 15 May 08
Kes, Upper Norwood says...
7:28pm Thu 15 May 08
TILLY, croydon says...
9:41pm Thu 15 May 08
spending public money
on a sub-standard service from mayday,refuse to send patients there until standards improve and Mayday start employing more staff , maybe the board could take a cut in salary.Without patients there will be no more mayday. RESIDENTS OF CROYDON REFUSE TO GO THERE
J H, Croydon says...
10:40pm Thu 15 May 08
I recently fractured my hip in a freak accident - and had to be admitted as an emergency to this hospital.
In the ambulance the highly professional crew seemed to be suggesting that they take me somewhere else unfortunately I was too much pain to think straight and just told them to take me to the nearest which was Mayday. (Not knowing anything about its reputation.)
I should have listened to the crew, as I had an absolutely awful experience.
I dont understand how people can defend the wretched place if you can possibly avoid it do so.
Dr Edward, croydon says...
1:00am Fri 16 May 08
I do think patients should be more responsible when they get to the hospital. Infection control is SO IMPORTANT!!! Wherever you are, PLEASE make sure you have some kind of antibacterial gel with you because bacteria is everywhere.
Also audit is being done by the hospital execs every year which hopefully will improve things to the best in the near future. Do not expect to see things straight away. It may well take a good few years to see any dramatic changes.
Tilly what on earth are you talking about? The funding for Croydon PCT has NOT been changed. Maybe the goverment funding on nhs has increased but thats definetely not the case for Croydon PCT. Money is being spent on new gp practises! The board does not work on its own. If more funding was available then more staff would have been employed.
Mr J Jones, Carshalton says...
9:59am Fri 16 May 08
In the know,, Around Croydon says...
10:08am Fri 16 May 08
The newly graduated nurse is *generally* not an efficient Nurse. Most who appear on the wards do not want to get their hands dirty and shy away from what should be patient contact.
They are quite happy doing the drugs round and changing the odd bed but that is it. Their course is mainly theoretical with little practical.
Then we have the overseas nurses. Those from a certain continent south of Europe are quite happy to sit in the Nurses' Station eating toast and drinking tea - especially at night - and ignore the calls from patients. Some are quite happy to manhandle distressed patients and one even ignored another Nurse's call for assistance when dealing with 2's, shrugging it off as optional - CPR optional? I ask you.
Then we have the overworking question where some nurses, especially from that continent work twice their hours by banking at another hospital straight after rostered duties.
The fiddles on the NHS are disgusting and nothing is being done about it.
A13, south norwood says...
11:22am Fri 16 May 08
I was in the early stages of my pregnancy when I thought I may of been having a miscarriage so I decided to go to the A&E dept. I told them what i thought had been happening and waited to be seen, I was then seen by 2 different nurses, neither of which told me anything, just took my blood pressure and a urine sample, then told me to wait to be seen again by someone else. Ater waiting nearly 2 hours I was called in again, this time by a doctor, all she did was ask me how far gone i was, what had happened and poked my stomach a bit. She then said well we'll call you within 2 days to come in for a scan. please note; THEY STILL HAD NOT TOLD ME ANYTHING E.G. WHETHER I HAD MISCARRIED OR NOT! So I said hold on, I've already got a scan booked elsewhere, what shall I do cancel, prospone it, what? Then the Doctor says to me "oh no, cancel it, theres no baby"! So I was thinking hold on, if I didn't say anything I would of left the hospital without knowing whether I was still pregnant or not!
After this I cancelled my other appointment for a scan, but because of how Mayday had dealt with me I decided to call an advice line, I explained what had happened and they told me that I should keep my appointment elsewhere and get my scan there. So I got my appointment back. And guess what happened when I went for my scan! I WAS STILL PREGNANT & THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG!!
So due to Maydays insufficient or shall I say lack of appropriate examinations they left me in an emotional confused state & I am now in the process of making a formal complaint.
If the people I had seen at the hospital didn't have the knowledge they needed to deal with this problem, they should refer you to someone who does to prevent giving you the wrong information which can cause a lot of upset for myself and people around me.
This is NOT ACCEPTABLE!
Geezer, says...
12:44pm Fri 16 May 08
anonymous wrote:Anon - you are an idiot.
the service is bad. the nurses don't care at all.
My wife is a nurse at Mayday and she is sometimes in tears at the frustration she feels at not being able to do her job properly i.e. caring for patients as she has to do so much non-nursing related work.
I know, let's close MAyday down because none of you lot give a stuff, then where will you go?
Prats.
J H, says...
1:19pm Fri 16 May 08
Geezer, I have sympathy for your wifes frustrations but Mayday needs to change and change quickly.
No amount of frustration on your wifes part alters the fact that treatment I received was awful and the staffs attitude was very poor.
Its a kind of fitting postscript to my experience that the husband of a member of staff there thinks its a good idea to abuse people who complain about their experiences.
C P, Croydon says...
1:34pm Fri 16 May 08
1. No pain relief or propper equipment on the amubulance.
2.Was left in A&E for two hours still with no pain relief or and way of contacting any medical staff.
3. was staved for 58 hours in case they could find a slot to opperate with drip constantly running out and left dry.
4. Was advised by letter to come back in 21 days to have stitches removed although had the common sense to question this as thought it was a bit too long to be in.
5. Fracture clinic constantly lost my documents throughout the 18 months I was attending, two hours to five hours was normal to be seen after the time of pre-arranged appiointment.
6, Nurse that removed my stitches did not speek a word of english which is not an exageration either, was quite concerning.
Overall a very poor experience but I did notice iI was not included in the survey although my brother was after attending for a few stitches whilst staying with me for a weekend. I somehow doubt that this survey was a true reflection of the state of our NHS or Mayday hospital.
Lucky we have Boots pharmacy to get some excellent advice.
CP, Croydon says...
1:36pm Fri 16 May 08
1. No pain relief or propper equipment on the amubulance.
2.Was left in A&E for two hours still with no pain relief or and way of contacting any medical staff.
3. was staved for 58 hours in case they could find a slot to opperate with drip constantly running out and left dry.
4. Was advised by letter to come back in 21 days to have stitches removed although had the common sense to question this as thought it was a bit too long to be in.
5. Fracture clinic constantly lost my documents throughout the 18 months I was attending, two hours to five hours was normal to be seen after the time of pre-arranged appiointment.
6, Nurse that removed my stitches did not speek a word of english which is not an exageration either, was quite concerning.
Overall a very poor experience but I did notice iI was not included in the survey although my brother was after attending for a few stitches whilst staying with me for a weekend. I somehow doubt that this survey was a true reflection of the state of our NHS or Mayday hospital.
Lucky we have Boots pharmacy to get some excellent advice.
In the know, Around Croydon says...
1:50pm Fri 16 May 08
And I totally agree with Geezer.
carol treagus, doncaster says...
7:49pm Fri 16 May 08
PW, says...
5:13pm Sat 17 May 08
Damian, Thornton Heath says...
11:45am Wed 21 May 08
I do not wholly blame the staff. I suspect that there is a culture of ship them in and ship out as quickly as possible and as long as someone does not look like their dying right in front of you then they will be alright till it becomes serious.
I am sure there are good staff there but unfortunately when generalisations are made it covers everyone in the same way.
My wife now has a chronic back condition due to Maydays take a pain killer and come back attitude. They refused to even do any sort of scan or analysis.
She is now pregnant and has been suffering pains in the same place since early in the preganancy. DUe to successive visits to teh doctors they are sufficiently concerned to refer us to hospital. so after waiting for our appointment we got teh same response take some pain killers and go away. Brilliant. On this basis I could be a doctor. No investigation was done.
Many people are saying where would you go instead. I would go anywhere but because we live in Croydon we have a choice of one for maternity care. St Georges is in another area and Maternity is specifically excluded from the Choices NHS system.
I agree with some of the comments made here that people show very little respect to the staff particularly people who have not been brought up in this country with the values that were pressed into me as a child. This can be very demotivating for staff and make them not want to care. Professionalism should kick in to say that just because one person is an uncouth idiot does not mean the next one is. It works the other way as well, if the staff treat the patients with contempt then the patients will respond in kind. This mentality comes from the top and the management should take some responsibility for this. The ironic thing is that my wife comes from what is classed as a third world country. Her sister has recently had a baby and they can't believe how bad the treatment is how.
On this basis Mayday is worse than a hospital in a thrid world country. I can give citations to backup in what ways it was better but this post has already gone on for too long.
Lucinda Smith, Kingston says...
8:50am Thu 22 May 08
I'm a medical doctor at Mayday. It's not exactly a complex formula- more beds, more nurses (proper experienced ones as opposed), more facilities. The A+E staff work their backsides off, but no beds, no facilities etc etc etc. The Chief Exc needs to go, managers need to get told to shut up since they're more interested in window dressing than real change to benefit patients. Wards get closed to save money, managers try to override my clinical decision because of certain targets.
Aki, East Croydon says...
9:30pm Fri 23 May 08
FM, Glasgow says...
2:30pm Sun 8 Jun 08
So far we have had a positive experience with only very minor queries which would undoubtedly be found any in hospital. My daughter is in a well run ward with an excellent charge nurse who never takes his eyes off the ball - that's rare and reassuring. The nursing and medical staff are caring and communicative to an above average level and my daughter's first procedure led by a top surgeon and team who again took time with the patient and family both before and after procedures. What more can be asked for?
That both patients and visitors respect others would be number 1. What apalled me was the horrendous lack of normal hygiene by the general public both on and off wards. If they don't even flush toilets then what hope is there of them washing hands. Don't put all the blame or the onus on the staff of Mayday. The hospital has antibacterial points everywhere but Joe Public seems to have problems recognising and using them as instructed but nothing less would be expected of the large majority both in patients and visitors who have poor personal standards in the first place. We as visitors have a lot to answer for in the standards of any hospital both in what I have said above and in our interpersonal relationships with the staff who care for the patients.
Support them and don't demoralise them in their difficult job.
The second point is certainly in the hands of Mayday management and that is the hospital catering. Although the menu cards maintain they cater for all diets a dietician needs to take a very careful look at what is actually being sent out. My daughter has to adhere to a strict low fat diet and has been served some incredible high fat dishes so far the best she has been able to consume is some beans on toast and weetabix. This is certainly not satisfactory but I cannot comment on the general standard of catering.
There are many positive aspects to Mayday to be built on and improved like any local hospital in UK but if the locals decry these the job will become even harder.
Thank you Mayday and Edgecome 2.
marie, says...
4:38pm Fri 4 Jul 08
I have had stomach pains and all sorts of digestive problems for eight months and am now bleeding.
It has taken them this long to offer me a c.t scan despite numerous repeated blood and stool tests because you never see the same doctor twice and they don't know their arse from their heads so they keep going over old ground(excuse my straight forward lanquage !
I have been faced with two month waiting times between appointments,lost notes twice and most doctors i don't understand because of lanquage barrier problems !!! Also most nursing staff and doctors are extremley rude and abrupt.
I feel scared and alone and feel like giving up !!!
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Arfur Towcrate, Staffycher says...
8:34am Wed 14 May 08