The incident surrounding my mum’s head injury sustained at a hospital became a case study at the ninth run of a leadership programme I ran at a hospital this week. We publish it here for it’s relevant to leaders beyond healthcare.
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My mum, in her 70s, was asked to stand on one foot on a stool while taking an x-ray. She did so, staggered and hit her head on a structure on the wall.
She was in pain and traumatised. The staff asked her to sit on a chair (without any handrails). She was then asked to do the x-ray again. This time, the staff gave her a grab-bar which should have been given before.
My mum was still in bad pain and shock as she staggered out of the room, and the staff said in a flat tone, “If anything, go to A&E (Accident & Emergency) or any hospital”.
My mum coincidentally met someone she knows who saw her looking disoriented in the corridor. She comforted her, made her rest in a comfortable place, drink water and find her orientation again.
The doctor she saw the next day was concerned that there may be internal bleeding. A CT scan thankfully showed none.
My mum submitted a feedback form to the hospital relating what had happened and asking for them to look into this to prevent future accidents.
That was in October. She has not been contacted with an apology, to find out how she is or to say that they have investigated the incident.
Like many hospitals, compassion is an organisational value on the hospital’s website.
I offer these for self-reflection or collective enquiry in your leadership teams:
- If something like this happened in your institution, how would you find out?
- Would your staff be sensitive and aware enough to understand the severity of such an incident? Would there be enough psychological safety for them to raise such an incident internally? Would they have the heart and space to do so or are they so overwhelmed, stressed and tired that such an incident would get lost in the busy days?
- How would such a piece of customer feedback be handled? Do you read some customer feedback notes regularly, and ensure the most serious ones reach you? However senior you are, I encourage you to. It keeps you connected to the people you serve. Their voices need to reach your heart for your heart is the most influential generator for real transformation in the organisation.
- How do you learn about and take meaningful action on your employees’ struggles that may prevent them from doing the right thing by customers?
- How do you hire for organisational values, role-model and take care of the wellbeing and growth of your staff so they embody your organisation’s values?
- Enabling staff to connect to meaning and purpose in their daily interactions can make a huge difference to them as well as customers. How do you facilitate this?
- How might you feel if this happened to your parent or child?
- How do you stay connected to your heart amidst all you deal with? Who holds space for you to do this?