"Wonderful staff on the Annie Zunz ward"

What I liked

I was admitted to King's through A&E because my GP sent me. The A&E doctor was lovely - it was difficult for her to insert a cannula and take blood because I have tiny veins, and I was very dehydrated from vomiting. Despite this, she kept trying and eventually I did indeed get the cannula and was able to have an anti-sickness and ranitidine injection.

The main thing I would like to highlight about my stay in King's was the standard of care and kindness of the nurses and healthcare staff on the Annie Zunz ward. I stayed there for a week and every single nurse was friendly, gave medication quickly when asked, and took lots of concern for each patient. I am only 22 but there were several elderly non-mobile patients on the ward, and the staff made sure that every single patient had a wash in the morning, had their bed linen changed, and when patients didn't eat their meals the nurses tried to persuade them to eat and documented it if they didn't. Also, the doctors said to me on the Friday that I could go home the next day and didn't need a review, and the nurse looking after me that day went to the pharmacy to get all my take-home medication so that it would be already done by the next day. She did this even though she was very busy and it wasn't absolutely required, but saved me lots of waiting around the next day. I have been an inpatient in a few hospitals throughout my life and none were as good as this ward! If one of my grandparents were ill, I would be have absolutely confidence if they were admitted here.

I don't know if the hospital sees these comments but if it does then I really hope that someone conveys my thoughts to the staff on Annie Zunz because they deserve a medal!

What could be improved

Overall I was extremely happy with all aspects of my care at King's. The only thing that I did experience was a lack of continuity of care with the doctors, and forgetfulness. E.g. a regular medication that I took at home was not prescribed by the doctor's when I was admitted, and it took 7 days before they finally rectified this!

Also, very sadly a patient in the bed next to me was found dead (and could be not be rescusitated) one morning, and it was very distressing to hear the staff as they tried to revive her. A relative then came to see her body and it was dreadful to hear how upset he was. I think that it would have been nice if someone came to talk to us about this afterwards because it really haunted me a lot afterwards.

Anything else?

The food was surprisingly good! A great range of meals and cooked by steaming to keep it fresh. Also the catering staff brought round drinks and snacks extremely regularly - I was very impressed by this.