"Bad experience as a day patient."

Anything else?

The early part of my experience was good. The pre-op team were great from the nurses to the anesthetic team. When I was in the recovery area it was bad. I'd assumed that everyone was admitted onto a ward even day patients. But I had a rude awakening. It was always usual for me to come round from the anesthetic in pain, this time the recovery nurse kept telling me to wake up. It was impossible. I couldn't open my eyes, but they kept on at me. They put a cup of water with a straw by my mouth and asked me to drink. I tried and it was very painful because of the tube that had been down my throat earlier. I felt like I needed to be left, but the nurse was rushing me. They called the discharge ward came and unhooked me and tried to get them to take me, but they said that they couldn't because I was not in the condition to go on their ward. I couldn't even speak properly. the nurse told me several times that I couldn't stay and go home. I couldn't do anything because of the drugs. I was so confused that the nurse either didn't seem to care/understand. I was stressed, but for being knocked out on painkillers I would've been really distressed. I was moved to the discharge ward where there were 3 lovely nurses who really looked after me. They could see I was nowhere near ready for discharge. When I was more awake, they tried to get me on my feet to sit in a wheelchair to use the toilet. I was very dizzy and the pain was excruciating. I almost fell. They helped me back on the bed. They assured me that they would not let me go home in such discomfort. I rested. I got the impression that someone called the team on the discharge ward to chastise them for allowing me to stay so long on the ward and that I should have been moved to the lounge, I had not been there that long at all and there were sufficient bays for everyone who came and it was never full when I was there – I was the only patient on the ward most of the time. The nurse in the discharge lounge greeted me nicely, offering a drink. But they were stressed and ignored us for the rest of the time we were there. They were alone in this small section. I was there for hours and would have been more comfortable/ready to leave earlier waiting on the ward. I was on a comfortable chair. I was joined by three other patients. I know one lady had cancer surgery and I was unaware what the others had. None of us looked ready to be discharged. A couple of hours rest after a general anesthetic is not too much to expect. All of the patients seemed like they could have done with the attention on a ward. The lady next to me was violently sick for hours before she was moved (like a sack of potatoes, feet dragging until someone corrected her feet in a wheelchair). The nurse on the discharge lounge did not ask her if she was OK once. Me neither, I was dizzy and dazed. The lovely physiotherapist had to come back because I was not even steady enough to stand. I fed back to PALS but they have not responded.