"The attention to detail and care of some..."

What I liked

The attention to detail and care of some of the members of staff, mainly the nurses, was fantastic. The vegetarian selection of food was good and nutritious even though I ate very little of what was offered to me.

What could be improved

Mainly the attitude of the staff although I do understand they work long, unsociable hours under incredible pressure.

Anything else?

After visiting my GP I was admitted to Rochdale Infirmary with suspected meningitis. After several hours I was discharged. 24 hours later I was readmitted with a rash; this time I was given IV antibiotics and a lumbar puncture. The results came back clear and I was again discharged back to my GP’s care. I was left with an excruciating post lumbar puncture headache and after two home visits by my GP and 10 days I was readmitted to hospital for 10 days. During this hospital stay I had a liver scan which showed signs of enlargement. One Staff Nurse was incredibly dismissive of my very apparent pain on sitting up. My mouth was quite literally bone dry due to my illness and talking was difficult and uncomfortable. I was told by this nurse to hurry up and get out of bed so they could change it and that I was to fill my own jug of water as she was busy. I have been through labour, and an assisted delivery with no pain relief so I think I am aware of what real pain is and my post lumbar puncture headache made my head feel like it was literally going to explode something that this nurse evidently did not care about. I was then moved to another ward later during my stay where I had to ask several times for compression stockings as I have an inherited blood disorder - very high risk of blood clots - and this wasn’t even considered even though I had been bed bound for so long and it was in my notes. The main part of my stay which left me utterly disgusted was when one Consultant had the cheek to tell me that the hospital was not a free bed and breakfast service. I work full time, I pay my taxes, I know it isn’t a free service!! I pay into it!! As it turned out when I visited my GP after two further weeks of recovery (I was unwell for 6 weeks in total) my illness was caused by Viral Hepatitis and the CMV Virus. I know to treat all Nurses and Consultants with common courtesy and respect but felt during my stay the vast majority of them didn’t to me!!