"Operation for Prolapse"

Anything else?

I attended Ward F16 for a prolapse repair. Mostly it was a really good experience for something that is really unpleasant! The nursing staff were fantastic, caring and careful. I noticed however a few issues around junior staff, which seemed to show a lack of supervision and direction by management. Two auxiliaries came in to make a bed - the older lady stripped the bed, made it up with fresh sheets and covers and tidied around, the younger woman played with her phone, asking her colleague several times to come over and look at something engaging or funny. The younger woman did nothing to help. This would be bad practise anywhere. Another time, I had bled quite a lot in the night and my sheets were very stained. I told one of the nurses, she said they would see to it. By the end of the day no-one had come to change them. I told another nurse and she said "oh no, of course they've been changed". I wondered for a moment if I'd gone mad or fallen asleep while they had done this. She pulled back the sheet to show me I was wrong - but there of course was all the blood. She apologised and changed the sheets herself, saying she felt very cross that so many people could be standing around on the ward as if there was nothing to do - while a patient was sitting next to a bed with blood soaked sheets all day. A student nurse was very sweet and caring - but also insisted on calling me "sweetheart", "darling" "sweetie" - I rather regret I said nothing at the time. It may seem a little thing, but I work at a special school and we have a policy of treating students with dignity and respect and this includes using their own name when addressing them. A patient in hospital is in quite a vulnerable position and I believe being called by one's own name is part of regaining some autonomy and dignity. Surely this should be part of training. The student nurse was not doing this out of malice or disrespect I'm sure, however, she did not know me, was not related, and was very much younger than me and I certainly wouldn't expect any of my children's peers to address me in this way. Having said all the above, the care from the nurses was outstanding and the ward was clean. And hopefully the operation is going to change my day to day life for the better, so thank you Ward F16!