"My surgery and after care"

51 year old man, not exactly fit but not overly unfit either. I was diagnosed with complete heart block 2 years ago and had a pacemaker implant in August 2018.

Subsequent problems resulted in me having an angiogram which determined I required a triple heart bypass and a mechanical mitrial valve replacement. I can hear it ticking away inside me now. Tick tick tick. It's not unpleasant.

I received my appointment for surgery fairly quickly especially during these days of Pandemic lockdown. I was admitted to Hospital in August 2020, operated on the following day and was discharged 5 days later. Those figures, on their own, are fairly impressive. But it only serves as a very small piece of the story.

From the surgeon to the catering staff, everyone I encountered was pleasant, engaging and, most importantly, thoroughly professional. Make no mistake, these guys are the BEST. I love them all. They made my stay so much easier to get through. The nursing staff could not do enough. I think they are brilliant. Every one of them.

I was given virtual meeting appointments with the surgeon and the anaesthetist. Both of whom explained everything that would happen clearly and allowed me to ask any questions I had. And I did have a few. I would say that the one worry I did have about the operation was waking up with a breathing tube in my mouth. That kinda freaked me out. The anaesthetist made it clear to me that it wasn't worth focusing on because a) I probably wouldn't remember it and b) Even if I did I'd be too out my face on drugs to care. She was right, it was b)

So from beginning to end I would say I felt thoroughly engaged and treated very well indeed.

When some people see reviews like that, their expectation levels are such that patients at the Golden Jubilee or any NHS hospital are pampered like in a 7* Hotel. This is not the case. The patient must take responsibility for their own health. And that includes wiping their own arse. NHS staff should be treated with the utmost respect as they are trying to fix you, not pamper you.

My parting shot is that I did not approve of the sky clapping for the NHS introduced by simpering MPs who put the squeeze on public funding but are quite happy to give themselves a nice 10% payrise when it suits them. The NHS is clearly underfunded and evidently understaffed as a result. Sometimes I did have to wait for something to happen a little longer than I would normally like. Deal with it. These people are running about with very little break time. I would like to say thank you NHS. More importantly however I think I would rather say (to our shambles of a Govt) give these guys the money and resources that they need. They deserve it, I can vouch for that.