"Excellent, supportive care by all staff..."

What I liked

Kind, supportive staff.

Honest informative discussions with the surgical team.

Responsive to worries.

Excellent specialist nurse service.

Very good gluten free food.

Being able to use my mobile phone- really helped my morale.

What could be improved

More nursing staff in the SAU- they were run off their feet!

Anything else?

I was sent by my GP to A and E to be seen by the on duty surgical registrar as I had developed jaundice. I spent a few hours there and was then transferred to the surgical assessment unit for a couple of days until a bed on Heron Ward became available. In the surgical assessment unit bays there were both male and female patients but once on the ward all the patients were female. All the staff I encountered were kind, friendly and supportive. This became extremely important to me as tests revealed that I had a tumour in my bile duct.

The SAU was quite noisy and busy all through the day and night but it was noticeable what a great effort the staff on Heron ward made to work quietly through the night.

I have to have a gluten free diet and the meals provided by the hospital were excellent and appropriate choices were clearly marked on the main menu. My family brought in some gluten free bread for me which the staff kindly stored in the fridge and made into toast at breakfast time.

The communications systems seemed to be pretty good. Patients in Heron ward had clear signs by their beds which informed everyone of what they were allowed to eat drink and these were updated appropriately. The housekeeping staff understood them.

On discharge, I phoned the surgeon's secretary to try and get an earlier follow up appointment and this was facilitated. At this appointment I was allocated a key worker specialist nurse who has been a wonderful support even though my surgical treatment has had to be carried out at another hospital.JaundiceFoodOpening hoursSurgical unitAppointmentsFollow upCommunicationDrinksServiceBedsTelephoneNursing staffReception staffSupport staffSurgeonsSurgery team