"My stay on Castle Ward"

Approximately one year ago I was a patient on Castle Ward Worthing Hospital.

It has taken all this time to feel mentally able to write this review.

The doctor at A&E was very good but my nightmare began as soon as I was taken up to Castle Ward.

I am elderly and was poorly and I feel that because of this, the staff treated me as if I was a baby or demented as if I had lost my marbles. Sometimes they would shout at me for things that I could not help like knocking things over. I often asked about my medical condition and no one would tell me which made me feel very anxious. My relatives had no joy either and were quite often kept in the dark.

Quite often I would feel very thirsty but my drink was out of reach. Everytime I asked a member of staff for it, I felt like I was being a nuisance. One day my mouth was very sore and dry and a nurse put my tablets in my mouth without a drink and they got stuck on the roof of my mouth instead of going down. This caused me even more pain. My relatives tried to complain about it but felt they were treated as a nuisance too.

The nights were really long and also the days. I only had my visits from my relatives to look forward to and was often close to tears when they arrived. I was made to go to bed at 7pm.

This would not seem quite so bad if the staff seemed like they were too busy, but I quite often observed them chatting together which included talking about "nuisance patients and relatives" which I could hear every word. They also talked about other staff members.

I was so relieved to be discharged home even though I still felt poorly. I have instructed my family to make certain that I never go to that particular hospital again.

If you have an elderly relative keep them away from Castle Ward.