"Total professionalism"

From Cleaner to Consultant and back again.

Dear Team 34,

I was a patient on your ward for elective surgery for the two days of October 21st and 22nd.

My care from the whole team was an experience which left me with a deep feeling of gratitude.

From the moment of reception when I was greeted and booked-in to the time of my discharge I was treated with smiles, respect, and total professionalism.

Everything was explained to me with great care and where appropriate paperwork was provided.

It gave me a feeling of great confidence and the belief that I was in safe hands.

I am pleased to report that I think that I am progressing well. I am pain free and can see progress on a daily basis. The Consultan's skill has enabled me to look forward to many more years of active life. The decision to operate was discussed and explained with great care and deliberated over carefully considering that I was about to celebrate my 80th birthday! I am indebted to him and his team for an amazing outcome; I just hope he thinks the same when he sees me next!

As a patient sitting in my chair I was able to observe the way in which all members of the team collaborated and supported each other. The catering staff with their life-giving tea and recuperative hot buttered toast. The diligence of cleaning staff. The stories of the students from Sheffield Hallam University and their dreams and hopes for careers in nursing: Everyone of them a star in the making.

The nurses who ‘loved to’ wake me every half an hour for my vital signs, with there enquiring questions about how I was feeling, and did I have all that I needed.

No amount of money could have bought me better care and I am both grateful and proud that this has all happened in ‘my hospital’.

You are an exemplar for health care as it should be practiced and for the faultless training which lies behind that care.

The two words, ‘Thank You’, seem very meagre but are most sincerely meant.