"Fantastic care in ward 104 ARI"

My care on ward 104 was second to none, all the staff treated me with respect and dignity. I had a long stay on the ward. I was unable to have many visits from my family, however all members of staff were easy to speak to and genuinely cared about what was going on in my life outside the hospital. The ward is a busy ward with lots of patients to look after but the staff will always make time for you, even senior nurses like the charge nurse. When it came to being discharged, many members of staff made the time to pop in to say bye to me after I had spent so much time on the ward! 

The domestic staff (green tunic) will serve teas and coffee and clean the bathrooms, and health care assistants (light blue tunic) will answer any buzzers, make beds & get you washed, and pass messages on to the nurses. Nurses (blue tunic) will do medicine rounds, wound dressings, putting up fluids etc 

Being tube fed, I was under the care of the surgical team, parenteral nutrition team, nutrition nurses and dietitian alongside regular 104 staff and gastroenterologists. 

I will say that I was waiting on a surgical procedure which was due to be preformed on a Wednesday. However, there was miscommunication from the surgical team to the doctors and nursing staff about a delay, so we didn’t hear all day that the procedure actually wasn’t happening. Though this was quickly rectified and subsequently I was taken in on the  emergency surgical list the next day.  

I was extremely happy with this result. I would like to say that the hospitals are really trying to balance covid care and other emergency & routine care, which has resulted in a lot of pressure on the services offered, the stress of it all is clear when speaking to staff trying to find beds or when trying to organise a more serious procedure like a surgical one, this resulted in a couple of weeks delay initially while we experienced quite a few complications that could otherwise be surgically solved in a world without the current pressures experienced at the moment. However this isn’t reflective on the staff on the ward at all and alternative treatments were attempted while we were waiting for the surgical team to intervene. 

After my surgery, there were slight complications and I required slightly more care than usual, despite usually being independent, the staff were more than happy to offer help with washing which was much appreciated. 

When considering covid, I felt very safe for most of my time on ward 104, given that the ward is mostly side rooms. Towards the end of my stay I was moved into the four bedded bay, but there is frequent testing for new patients. The ward is constantly being cleaned and your bed space is always being wiped down by the healthcare assistants and domestic staff before teas and mealtimes. 

I felt listened to and that all staff involved in my care were knowledgeable about my condition. This was important to me as I’ve had poor experiences before where medical staff at another hospital did know much about my condition. I also felt that students were willing to learn and that nurses were willing to teach students new things. I also felt as though I had a say in my treatment & discharge, particularly when it came to managing my nutrition. This was very important to me.

Discharge was fast and the discharge lounge was comfortable. I would also like to reassure any patients from the northern isles that the discharge nurse Judith is kind and compassionate, and will go above and beyond to ensure you are comfortable during your hospital stay, I would like to extend my thanks to her for all her help over my stay which was much appreciated by both me and my family.

overall although a stay in hospital is never pleasant, I believe the ward 104 staff work hard to make it as comfortable as possible for you to recover as well as you can. 

Of all the staff who deserve a million thanks in the world, I would like to extend my thanks to dietitian Yvonne, and also to HCA Karen, who took me down to surgery, as well as washed my hair in the week after it. I was especially anxious for the surgery after a few bad experiences and she was really lovely to talk to even if she didn’t realise it!

Thank you again ward 104 for all your help and for looking after me for all this time!