"Quick and efficient care"

At the beginning of March 2023 I was admitted as an inpatient at the Bristol Heart Institute for a scheduled heart valve replacement. I have Congenital Heart Disease and heart monitoring and valve replacement is routine for me and I have become familiar with the BHI well over a number of months due to being an inpatient for a related incident and procedure.

I was admitted quickly and efficiently into the Day Care Unit on Ward C602 during the early hours of the morning and the nurses were friendly and informative, allowing me to ask questions and preparing me for going to the Cath Lab in a short while. My family members were also reassured and kept informed throughout. My specialist cardiologist visited me as well and talked through the procedure and I was given the opportunity to ask questions and sign the consent form. I was also visited by the anesthetist who discussed my personal health history, current medication and today's procedure down in the lab later on.

I was given dignity throughout as I had to change clothes into a gown and wheeled down to the Cath Lab when the time came. My personal belongings were labelled and kept to one side by the nursing team.

After my procedure I was taken back to the Day Care Unit for a short while as part of my recovery. The nurses were friendly again but were contradicting one another at one point as to whether I should be getting up and out of bed to walk after my surgery to see if my groin incision was fine. I had been given a General Anesthetic and so I was groggy and dizzy throughout the rest of the day but I was asked to walk around the ward ready to be transferred upstairs to Ward C705. One nurse told me not to walk around too much and to stay in bed and rest after the GA.

I was transferred later on during the evening to C705 but I felt communication was lacking during this time between nurses. The new nurse on C705 thought I had undergone an ablation when in fact I had just had a heart valve replacement and two stents fitted to my artificial conduit. I had to explain.

Overall I feel the experience was positive in the Day Care Unit and was in no way worrying. I had visions beforehand of being in a busy ward with lots of hectic patients and staff running around but this wasn't the case. Things were very organised and I was glad to be taken care of here.