You killed my husband
The true story of a wife whose husband died while under the care of a large NHS Trust
Patient complaints are time consuming, take valuable management resources, are expensive and often emotionally challenging. These complaints can cover a whole range of issues from car parking to a hospital being accused of negligence. Patients and their families want their voices to be heard but there are ways to sensitively handle complaints, address the concerns and prevent them from escalating unnecessarily.
The play is based on a true story with the controversial title taken from e-mail headings written by the angry wife of a man who died while a patient at a large Trust. It looks at the ways in which healthcare professionals handle the care of a seriously ill person admitted through an emergency call. The patient was admitted to A & E with multiple life limiting health issues and his wife accompanied him to the hospital. She became extremely dissatisfied with the way in which his situation was managed and the way her own concerns were responded to at the time.
This play presents a series of scenarios showing poor approaches of staff followed by good approaches and highlighting how the situation of the wife’s complaint escalation could have been avoided. The play also delves into other issues including how a family’s perception of an illness is not necessarily the same as a medical practitioner’s perception, the DNAR question and how it should be broached and taking the time to explain what is happening. The back story of the family is also presented.
It is certainly true that professional healthcare staff are under stress most of the time, but poor practice can result in complaint escalation that is costly both in terms of time and resources. Stepping outside the box for a while and reviewing behaviours through the medium of drama can help prompt the realisation that building empathy is an integral part of the overall patient experience.
