"We felt secure in the hands of all..."

What I liked

My partner was admitted to Bulphan ward via A&E, it was an emotional time for us both and we were treated with the utmost respect at all times. A&E was staffed by nurses and doctors who knew what they were doing and they listened to us. On Bulphan Ward the hands on care could not have been better, neither could the clinical attention given to my partner. All shifts worked well as teams and there was very good communication between us, the doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants. All the staff were really friendly and genuine in their concern, they shared our highs and lows. We cannot speak more highly of the health care services received in over two weeks. Questions were answered with patience and explained in a way that could be understood.

The wards are not responsible for the steamed cuisine which was mostly of small portions, inedible and tasteless, the sausages compared very well with the pictures of constipated stool samples in the patients care folder. There is no way that patient recovery can be attributed to good nutrition if a patient stays on any ward. The new staff/patiient/visitor serves muck better food cooked on site but it is quite expensive and of course people have to be mobile enough to get there in the first place.

The cleaning company need to be more diligent in monitoring the quality and frequency of cleaning, especially of shared toilets and bathrooms on the wards. Faeces splattered toilets were not cleaned during the day and presumably left until the next morning, not all patients can clean up after themselves.

All in all we thank the staff of A&E and Bulphan Ward most wholeheartedly for everything, especially the understanding, patience, tolerence and the excellent level of health care, they also have happy dispositions and this daily visitor was very grateful for that alone. You had time for us and made us feel special. Thank you.

What could be improved

Patients food - let the hospital managers eat it for a week.

Frequency of toilet cleaning

Monitoring and supervision of cleaning in toilets and bathrooms.

Anything else?

The cost of car parking and toping up the TV/telephone card works out at £7.50 a day, on top of that there is the cost of food and drinks. I visited from 3pm - 8pm every day for 19 days andI was spending on average £15 a day for over two weeks. Granted after two weeks as the main visitor you can apply for concessionary parking but by then I had already parted with over £300 and that is not money that can be replaced in our current situation.