"Sadly, very disappointing!"

What I liked

Some good staff members.

What could be improved

Cleanliness

Dealing with patients in a more timely fashion

Anything else?

Recent visit to gastro ward has left me with a very poor opinion of the hospital. The ward was not clean, in particular the toilet in my room (shared between 8 beds) was disgusting to say the least. The toilet floor was soaking wet with faeces and urine even after repeadly telling the custodial staff of the issue. This ultimately resulted in another patient in my room picking up a nasty infection. The general cleaning methods used for the rooms were appauling, randomly dotting a j-cloth here and there does not constitute a thorough clean in my opinion, especially in an environment that relies on cleanliness to safeguard the patients. During ward rounds one consultant even commented on the poor state of the floor complaining it was sticky.

It was also frustrating to see so many nurses on the ward and yet when a patient buzzed for assistance the buzzer would be sounding for sometimes 30 minutes or more before the patient was attended too. This would be understandable if there was a lack of staff, however during these times I had to get up to assist fellow patients to find a nurse - only to find a group of them sitting down and chatting with nothing to do!

Having said that there were a few very good nurses who deserve all the praise i can give. It's a shame for the overall impression of the ward to be dragged down by those not pulling their weight.

I sincerely hope that my rather frank comments are read and taken onboard to improve things for future patients.