"Lovely staff but a few points to note"

After suffering from severe headaches alongside nausea and sickness, I brought myself to Daisy Hill's Emergency Department.

My experience in A&E was alright - I had a very long wait however, probably the best of ten hours. One thing I noticed in the Emergency Department was that they seemed to be going in and out and in and out - like a yo-yo, which was a bit annoying. However, I acknowledge it is a very busy department and they are just trying to manage the large volumes of people. The staff were all very nice down in A&E.

Early the next morning, after all the paperwork was sorted, I was brought up to the Female Medical Ward. Up here on the ward it has been very good. The staff have all been really lovely to me. Geraldine in particular has been amazing - she has been really lovely.

When it comes to the food - it has been alright. The soup has been nice but all the other options I have tried I would describe as being "edible".  However they offer you enough food and try to accommodate you where possible which has been good.

I only have a couple of suggestions to make:

Firstly, I think it needs to be reinforced with staff about the right place to have private conversations. For instance, I have heard some members of staff having private conversations with each other on the ward itself in the early hours of the morning. Just remind staff to be careful as I heard every word of the conversation and I am sure they would not have wanted me listening in.

The second thing I think could be changed would be to do with urine tubs being left in the bathrooms following samples. Given the emphasis being placed on hygiene in the NHS at the minute, I think that the toilets should be checked more often and these tubs removed. This small change would make a big difference.

Other than this my stay has been excellent.

I would also like to say that having a feedback assistant coming round, such as Nathan today, to listen to patients like myself in this way is a very good thing as it provides a great opportunity to give the hospital and members of staff feedback such as this which otherwise may go unnoticed.