"Communication, consideration and timescales."

I was referred to Crosshouse Hospital and admitted to ward 4A. On arrival to the ward a nurse asked us what we were there for and my husband said I was to be admitted and handed paperwork to them, for some reason they seemed quite aggressive.

The nurse took us to a room where my bed was and said another Staff Nurse was at Lunch and would see me on return from break. My husband went to get a chair and when he brought it to the bed the same nurse came back and said quite abruptly that the chairs were for patients only, my husband apologised and was directed to visitors chairs which were hidden behind a curtain. They didn't seem to mind later on when other visitors were sitting on the chairs. We sat for well over an hour being ignored until finally the other staff nurse appeared. They did apologise.

It has to be said that the Doctors and majority of staff were brilliant. On the day of discharge I was told by the Doctor at 1. 30pm that I could go home. I told the nurse and I started to prepare to go home. The nurse said I had to wait until Doctors were doing the rounds and see what Meds were required. Long story short, we were still waiting at 4.30pm and finally we asked if we could collect the Medication in the morning as I was very tired.

My husband called the ward later in the evening as we could not find a prescribed cream I had taken in to hospital, the nurse was helpful and searched for the cream. They thought they had found it and my husband mentioned that he would collect it and my medication in the morning. He went to ward 4A at 12. 45pm the next day and guess what? No prescription Medication, he was told  they would phone him when it arrived and he would need to come back.

This is a disgrace because if we had continued to wait in the ward we would have had one really long wait, not to mention I am not in the best of health and my husband is my Carer. Another patient waited the same length of time yesterday. I also think it disgraceful that when we asked for a wheelchair to get me to our car, all we got was a shrug of shoulders and told to look for one at the lifts. Surely someone can come up with a better, more workable process for Admission and Discharge as it is time consuming for both patients and Staff.

One more question, why pay all that money for posters and electronic boards stating the Hospitals and Grounds are No Smoking Zones and not enforce that Law in some way? Now that's truly a waste of NHS funds. You run the gauntlet of smoke getting in and coming out of the Hospital.