Are you concerned about a patient‘s condition?
CALL 4 CONCERN
Improving Patient Safety at Colchester and Ipswich hospitals.
Call for Concern (C4C) is a patient safety service for adult inpatients, families and friends to call for help and advice if you or your family are concerned that there is a noticeable change or deterioration in condition.
This service is delivered by the Critical Care Outreach team who are available 24 hours a day to help support ward teams in the care of acutely ill patients. We also offer emotional support to patients and their families who have recently been discharged from the Critical Care Unit as this can be an anxious time.
When can I call?
- After you have spoken to the ward team or doctor but feel the healthcare team are not recognising or responding to your concern
- If you have been a patient in Critical Care and are experiencing difficulties such as anxiety, bad dreams, low mood or feeling emotional
When should I NOT call C4C?
To report problems with bed, food, room, parking or any other general issues please talk to the ward team. If you need Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) please contact them on Colchester 01206 742 683 or Ipswich 01473 704 781.
How can I call and what happens next?
- At COLCHESTER – Ask the ward staff to bleep 247 or call directly on 01206 747474 and ask for bleep 247
- At IPSWICH – Ask the ward staff to bleep bleep 732 or call directly on 01473 712233 and ask for
bleep 732
Give the Critical Care Outreach nurse the patient’s name, ward and brief description of the problem.
After prioritising the urgency of the problem, the team will visit you on the ward to discuss your concerns and assess the situation, we will also liaise with your medical and nursing team.
We aim to answer your call immediately, however on some occasions we may be dealing with an emergency which may delay our response. In this instance we advise that you speak to the ward team
or call us back.
I am worried about calling C4C
Please do not feel concerned that using this system will negatively affect the patient’s care in any way, as we recognise that no one knows your health needs better than you and your family.
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