"Keep up the good work!"

I went in for shoulder surgery early Nov at Cannock hospital (holy bank suite). Instructed to come in for 7am, checked in shortly after and welcomed by the staff within the ward. They were all lovely and talkative which really made me feel reassured. I was then seated on the waiting ward where you can relax a little and have a chat with the other patients, the ward itself is immaculate and you get frequent nurses popping in to do the checks and keep you informed on what’s going to be happening throughout your day surgery.

I was then greeted by one of the surgeons from Mr McBrides team who went through the surgery details and again more checks which i feel was proactive. Followed by a visit from my actual surgeon Mr Mcbride who popped in to welcome me and go through the technicalities of the procedure along with a time that I was due to go into theatre which is 11:30 am. As they had advised 11:30 came and I was greeted by a lovely nurse who checked If I was ok and walked me down (we had some great banter on the way helping me keep calm), to then be seated and guided through the next process of putting me to sleep, sounds scary but once you are there the staff are so reassuring and interested in you as a person, what your interests are outside etc so you can have a nice chat with them. 2 hrs in surgery which went well thanks to Mr McBride and the team and I was placed on the recovery ward where I met Sandradene, to say this lady works hard is such an understatement, she is genuinely interested in the wellbeing of her patients. She couldn’t do enough for me always making sure that I was ok and that I had enough food/water etc. Everything she said she was going to do for me got done and again we had a right laugh she genuinely is a credit to the hollybank suite.

I’m sure they get told this all the time so thank you because you really made my stay a good one and I am grateful for that.

Roughly an hour went by and I had fully come around so it was time for discharge so Sandradene was arranging my meds and paperwork. Meanwhile a lady from the physio team came and checked over me and provided me with information on stretches to help aid my recovery along with a booklet to take home which is handy as the aftercare is the very important. Once she was happy with how my sling was positioned she wished me well and on to the next patient. And finally my surgeon Mr McBride came for a check up to tell me what he had done and that it was all a success and wished me well, again a great surgeon who is easy to talk to made my procedure smooth so thank you.

So I’m going to end this story with a massive thank you to everybody who had an involvement in my surgery at Cannock hospital Hollybank Suite I really appreciate, keep up the good work!!