"The nurses are excellent and the doctors are unbelievable"

I have had a brilliant experience. The nurses are excellent and the doctors are unbelievable. Dr Ziad Khan and Dr Zafar have been absolutely amazing. I have felt so comfortable in their care and I am comfortable asking them questions. These two doctors have been amazing in comparison to other surgical doctors that I have seen over the years. I have been in hospital many times and this time has definitely been the best. It is the best of the best. All of the staff work so hard and are definitely underpaid in my opinion. They all make me feel at ease. I am on a clean ward. The food is brilliant especially the roast beef.

One point that I need to make is the importance of nurses wearing appropriate PPE. I am in a bay with an extremely vulnerable patient with a very low immune system. An agency nurse came around the other day with her mask on her chin the whole time, not covering her nose or mouth and no visor or goggles. I felt really bad for the vulnerable patient and this act also made me feel unsafe during the COVID pandemic. Also at night time, I feel the nurses should be more attentive when someone presses the buzzer. An elderly patient beside me has pressed her buzzer many times on different nights as she has needed someone to bring her to the toilet but she has been waiting each time for 40 minutes or longer. I felt sorry for her. I understand that the long waits may be due to an under staffing issue.

Another issue that needs to be raised is the shower in the ward. The water doesn’t drain away at all so all of my clothes and slippers were left soaked. This is a serious health risk as it would be so easy to slip because of all the water.

One last point that I would like to raise is that I find it really hard to know who is who in the hospital. I think all members of staff need to introduce themselves to the patients as I never know if it is a doctor, a nurse, a cleaner or just someone bringing around the dinner.