"Excellent care during our stay"

I wanted to thank all who were involved in the recent care of my 2 year old daughter in ward 29 paediatrics, Ninewells. We had a 3 day stay on the ward, and thankfully it turned out to be nothing serious but she did seem to be initially very unwell. I was impressed with her thorough care, it was explained to me why they were providing treatments and investigations and what other potential things she may have needed.

I would particularly like to thank and commend nurses Katy and Ellis. Katy was on nights during our stay and got the thankless task of doing my daughters IVs and her 4 hourly obs overnight. She did this with such patience and care, and I even managed to sleep through her taking my daughters obs she was so gentle. We felt in the safest hands. Ellis was on during our days, and was also wonderfully caring but also kept us informed on the medical staff decisions, and made sure we could get home as soon as possible. I never felt like it was a bother asking her for anything.

As a Mum of (thankfully) usually very well children this was a totally new experience for me, and although I work in a healthcare setting being on this side was quite overwhelming. If I had any feedback that I personally would have found useful - it would be having a leaflet or way of passing on information about the ward at the start of your stay, would have made me feel like I was a little more in the know, and not doing things wrong. For example we were in a side room, but I did not know whether my daughter was allowed out for a walk/where we were allowed to go on the ward, and information about staying over with my daughter and the parent beds etc. Also, I was alone with her quite often which made trying to get any food or drink for myself impossible until my husband could come in (I went from out 7am A&E admission until 5pm when my husband came in without anyone offering me food the first day), however, the next day the play staff were able to stay in the room with my daughter for a little bit to let me get some breakfast/drink from the parents room, so again it would have been good to know about the play service and how that worked. 

This is only a suggestion that might make other parents more comfortable during their stay, as there is enough else to worry about, however that is not to take away from the excellent care that we received, many thanks again.