Who will be responsible for my care?
Your medical consultant is responsible for your care. You may not see your consultant every day, but a doctor on your consultant’s team will always visit you. Ward rounds generally take place in the morning – please ask your nurse for specific times.
Will I be told about my treatment?
Your doctors and nurses will discuss your treatment with you, as well as give you written information where available. We encourage you to ask as many questions as you like.
Q: Will my treatment be kept confidential?
Any information about your treatment is kept strictly confidential. Apart from your GP, we will not pass it on to to anyone outside the hospital unless you give us permission. A summary of your treatment is routinely sent to your GP. Please speak to your nurse or the ward sister if you do not want your GP informed.
Q: Do I have to sign a consent form?
To go ahead with any surgery or treatment for you, we always ask your permission, and by law we must ask you to sign an e-consent form or paper consent form.
Your doctor will explain what will happen during any treatment. They will tell you what the risks, benefits and alternatives may be, and how you can expect to feel afterwards. It is important that you understand everything that will happen and you should sign the form only when all your questions have been answered to your satisfaction.
You have a right to refuse any treatment or tests. If you are unable to give your consent, your medical team will act in your best interests.
UCLH is implementing Martha’s Rule to ensure the critical concerns of patients, and those that know them best, are listened to and acted upon.
This is a patient safety initiative, enabling patients in hospital, their families and carers to ask for an independent assessment from a critical care outreach team if they are concerned that a patient is becoming more unwell and they are not being responded to.
If you have raised concerns to the ward team about your own or a loved one’s condition but you feel these haven’t been addressed, you can call the critical care outreach team on 07816 196122.
