"Brilliant staff on Ward 25 "

In September last year I had mitral valve surgery and was on a different ward afterwards. While my surgeon, his secretary and ITU staff were amazing my “care” on the ward afterwards left a lot to be desired. My experiences of that ward were not positive and left me terrified of ever going back there. I had never felt so vulnerable in my life and so completely let down and disempowered. In January I had to go to the Freeman for an emergency redo of the surgery due to an I infection and I was absolutely terrified that I would end up on the same ward. I am not exaggerating when I say that I was at the point of refusing surgery as I really could not cope with a repeat of my previous experiences. It added to the trauma of needing more surgery and my anxiety was spiralling out of control. Fortunately after seeing the state I was someone intervened and I ended up on ward 25. My experiences of the two wards were completely different. I found the staff on ward 25 to be brilliant, very caring and compassionate despite the pressure they were under. I felt that they went out of their way to be kind and understanding. I could not fault them. This was my experience of all of the staff on the ward, regardless of role. Nobody wants to end up in hospital but, if in the future I do, I would have no concerns about being on ward 25. I cannot thank them enough for the way that they cared for me and I am very grateful to them. As with my previous surgery the surgeon was completely amazing. He was kind, compassionate and positive. He listened to my concerns and was very reassuring. I felt very lucky to be in his care and could not have asked for better. I want to thank all of those involved in my care in January and let them know how grateful l am to them. They have restored my faith in the NHS.