"March 2008.Most nurses were respectful ..."

What I liked

March 2008.Most nurses were respectful and kind but they had too many people to look after and as a result could not respond to pressed buttons all the time,which involved some painful and uncomfortable instances for some people in my ward. The cleaner in in my particular ward was very nice and she was kind also. She was also very hard working. The cleaners in Bedford Hospital always seem to be cleaning and the the impression when you go in is that is a nice clean hospital. The doctors on the whole are good, but in my time there have been one or two who could improve on their bedside manner. The consultant was very caring and seemed to react to my questions on various aspects of my treatment. The people who helped the patients walk and other supporting staff were courteous and helpful. I think on the whole Bedford Hospital is a good hospital and should not be destroyed. There are too many people in this area to be serviced by only one hospital which is miles away. I cannot comment personally lately although my brother is in a ward at the moment which has much more space between beds than I did which is very nice. He also seemed to like the meals. But once again too few nurses to answer buttons.

What could be improved

March 2008 The food on this occasion did not seem very nice, although I did not eat a lot due to my condition. On a previous visit a few years ago it was fine.

Visiting hours- I was not impressed to find some people could walk in and out when they pleased whilst others got told off for entering slightly early.

I did not like the ward on this occasion,(Last time it was OK) it was cold and we were squashed together like sardines. Dangerous for infection. Also certain people brought in food of a foreign nature (being highly spiced and strongly scented), which they consumed with their families. At the time I was vomiting a lot and this did not help my condition. There were complaints from the bed next door about food being dropped on the floor.

I did not like the toilets, they were too narrow and people who had tubes coming from everywhere found it very difficult to negotiate all the basins and towel rails at either side of the room. It also had the added disadvantage of having pots of urines which nurses were supposed to collect for testing. These did remain too long in the toilet. When I had a shower, I got the feeling

that I had committed a mortal sin. Don't they want us to be clean. The time before they used to make all of us have baths. Why the change.

I also has an old lady opposite who screamed at night whenever the coloured nurses came to tend to her. I got the impression I was in ward of delinquent people. Maybe it was because I mentioned MRSA and other diseases when I was coming into the hospital.

Another thing I disliked was the way they sometimes left the curtains open when I could have done with privacy and discussed things of a private nature in the hearing of other patients. However, lucky for me I have got used to such blatant disregard for the privacy of the patient so was unaffected by it. I went to a convent school when I was young and are used to the tacky tricks of those in charge. Well this seems a great big moan and I do think things could be improved here and there but by and large Bedford Hospital is a good Hospital. The people working in it are only reflecting what the human race is like, good and bad with the bad winning I think. Perhaps I am too pessimistic.