"Excellent care and attention from both doctors and..."

I recently had an operation t at East Surrey and my first 3 days were spent in HDU and cannot fault the care that I received. I would in particular like to thank one member of staff for looking after me so well for the three days that she was on duty whilst I was there. The agency nurse who looked after me on the Sunday morning I would like to thank her for looking after me and helping to wash my hair when I was so desperate to have clean hair! I was then moved to Copthorne ward and there, the nursing staff were very attentive and looked after us very well. The staff who looked after meals and drinks were also very good and very attentative to our needs. I was briefly in Brook ward for one night and boy what a difference in the quality of the accommodation. My room was ok but the bathroom was very dated and there was a musty smell in the bathroom. When I went to shower in the morning there was black mould an inch long growing off the shower head! This was very soon cleaned up and I was able shower, albeit finding it quite difficult to climb into and out of the bath despite the handle in the bath - and I was quite mobile. the walk-in shower up in Copthorne was much easier to use!! The final area that I encountered was discharge and I cannot fault the porter who collected me from Brook ward and took me down to discharge. He got me a drink and settled me in a chair and that is when communication broke down! Never having been in hospital before, I did not know what the procedure was and it was not explained to me. I did not require any medication so that was me effectively discharged but I did not know that and no one told me any better. After about half an hour I asked when I was going to be discharged to be told that as I was not waiting on pharmacy for any medication I was discharged. So I then rang my sister to come and collect me. I think that patients should have the procedure explained to them. We are not mind readers and if we have not been there before we will not know how it works so if the staff could explain that at the time then we will know what to do!