Centenary Health Ctr

Scarborough Centennary Hospital
Neilson and Ellesmere Roads
Scarborough.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Dear Administrative staff/ Doctors or Personnel:

I am writing to regarding my recent visit to your hospital Emergency department.

This past Friday, November 2, 2012, I was sent to your Emergency department by my family doctor, Dr. Cari Davies. I brought in our 18 year old daughter, Julia around 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. Dr. Davies suspected Julia had a blood clot in her leg and sent her in with a requisition for an ultra-sound, so Julia wouldn’t have to wait as long to get seen.

We were greeted at the Triage by a nurse named “Robin” (we had to ask a clerk her name, as she had her name tag on backwards), who seemed to be terribly put-off by us bringing in this note. The nasty and rude treatment started with her saying, “Why would she accept a note from any doctor” and physically tossed the note back at us. This same nurse then continued to roll her eyes at us, and treat us very rudely, and made us feel as if we were wasting her time. She never made any eye contact with us, or even let us explain anything our doctor had said. She would cut us off with saying “uh huh uh huh” while looking away from us. She tossed all the papers at us, not handing them to us in our hand, and waved us to the next window.

Then while in the waiting room, we were chatting with the other patients, who all had the same miserable experience with your R.N. Robin. The one lady, in her mid seventies was saying “why was she so mean? I was just showing her my health card”, another said, “she snapped my head off when I asked her a simple question”, another said she actually told R.N. Robin, “how dare you speak to me like that?”.

I understand Nurse Robin is pregnant and might have been having a bad day. But, none of us patients were having a “good day” either. That is why we were at the hospital Emergency. Robin chooses to work there. She chose to be a nurse. None of us chose to be sick. Robin chooses to be rude and nasty to all the patients. We don’t expect loving fawning nurses, just pleasant courtesy. Maybe a little care.

I am writing this letter to you as I think you need to be aware that your hospital has a horrible reputation for your emergency department because of the poor morale and bad reception we receive at the Triage desk.

As a side note, when we brought Julia back the next day, Saturday, November 3rd, for her blood test for the Warfin drug, the same nurse, Robin was there again. She seemed relieved and almost happy to know that our daughter actually had a blood clot, and that is why she was there the previous day. She even smiled and said, “oh, I see you have a blood clot. That is what was wrong!” Then to add insult to injury, she stuck a piece of tape with gauze on the germ-ridden desk, while she took the blood sample, and then put it on my daughter’s arm. Then said, “don’t touch anything in here, it is all filthy”. I pointed out what she had just done, and Robin just walked away.

I hope you look into the care your nurses are giving the patients at the Scarborough Centennary Hospital Emergency department and up their morale and attitude or get new staff. We have spoken of this service to many over the course of the weekend, and all have advised us to write in to you. I am also tempted to write to the media.

By the way, we finally left the hospital after 6:30 p.m. only to find out from the pharmacist that the nurse “forgot” to give Julia her dose of Warfin and also they “forgot” to make the appointment at the clinic for Saturday morning, which we were told was done.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Danielle Giggie