"Excellent care and attention"

I attended a&e with serious kidney pain, and was seen very quickly, despite the large crowd. The triage team took me in immediately and administered pain meds - although I was not entirely coherent, I found the nurses and health care assistants to be extremely friendly and communicative, despite the obviously busy time. I was admitted to Bibury ward very late in the day (10pm Friday night), but despite this was met by the friendly nurse and saw a junior doctor within the hour. I ended up on the ward for three days and was treated by different staff each day - all staff (cleaning, nursing, doctors included) were extremely friendly, chatty and helpful, quick to attend if you needed anything and constantly checking in throughout the day and night. This was my first time in hospital for 20-odd years, and based on past experience and friends accounts, I was not keen, but I have to say, the experience was actually very good - food was OK, the place was very clean (and cleaners constantly around each day) and the staff excellent. As I had no idea I was being admitted, I had nothing with me except the clothes I was wearing, but they managed to rustle up pyjamas, towel and toothbrush as soon as it became clear I was sticking around. My only real criticism was that, as I was admitted late on Friday, it was clear that the more senior doctors are not available until Monday - even if I had recovered more quickly I think I would have still been there until then. All in all, a nasty experience made extremely bearable and even at times pleasant by the excellent staff in both a&e and the ward.