"I thought the MRI was excellent ..."

What I liked

I thought the MRI was excellent overall. I was in there for a stent in the heart unit in Jan 2006 and was impressed by my first class treatment then. I was in on Sept 2 2008 in the elective op dept to have an intra-muscular lipoma removed as a day patient. Again I was impressed with the level of care, how I was treated and the actual op itself. The doctors and nursing staff I found were uniformly friendly, efficient and professional at all times on both occasions. The ward I was in was clean, the beds were clean and I felt I was in safe hands. Reading this site it appears some people can never be pleased. God knows what they are like at home or when visiting their GP or using other scarce NHS resources. I was given a lunch at the last moment and I thought it was very good quality, well cooked and hot.

What could be improved

While the medical staff were excellent in all their dealings with me the same cannot be said for the administrative support staff. My original appointment was sent to my former address, even though the referral from Bolton NHS had supplied my current address. This resulted in a delay of several months which could have had serious consequences. When I was confirming the date of my op (the second time) and when I wanted a question answered I could not get through to anyone from the admin side despite many phone calls on different days at different times. I left several messages but no-one ever returned my calls despite the message saying leave your number - so you don't know whether anyone has read your message or not. This is unacceptable and really needs to be sorted out. I will now have to try and contact them again for an out-patient appointment as none has been forthcoming in the 14 day time frame following the operation - but will anyone answer the phone?

Anything else?

The admin side definitely needs sorting out as this is often the first contact a nervous patient has with this massive hospital.

I agree with those who said that while most patients used the antiseptic gel many staff did not.

One thing that absolutely outraged me was the cost of parking. I was in over six hours and had to pay £10 to leave the underground car park. This is outrageous and should be stopped immediately. I can afford that but there must be many others who cannot or who have difficulty. Why do NHS Trusts persist in seeing car parking as revenue streams? Before they became trusts this did not generally happen.