"SOME of the nurses were kind, ..."

What I liked

SOME of the nurses were kind, caring, enjoyed what they were doing and took time to explain things rather than treat me like a peice of meat.

What could be improved

The attitude of some of the staff was highly confrontational. I accept that they were busy sometimes but they seem to assume that patients would complain all the time and not understand the stresses of their work. When something went wrong, it was voiced in front of me in such a way that it appeared to be MY fault. The nurses could have treated my comments and suggestions with more attention and paid attention to the things they were being told instead of treating everyone identically. If someone says their arm hurts, its NOT a good ide to stick a needle in it, use the other arm!!!

The cleanliness was poor, things like spots of blood on the floor represent a hazard and are NOT cleaned off by sweeping over them occasionally. The same goes for blood sprayed onto furniture.

Staff should treat patients as they would expect to be treated themselves, this is while visitors are NOT present as well as while they are.

I will NOT tar all staff with the same brush. Some nurses were totally different in their attitude, they were both kind and caring and were clearly competant and confidant about what they were doing.

Patients in side rooms, should be checked on regularly, not just when medications or food are being distributed. If I hadnt had friends visiting, I would have spent most of the day alone and confused. It was made clear to me that the buzzer was only to be used when essential and that extra blankets etc could be requested when someone checked up on me rather than me buzzing for them. More often than not, when I buizzed, someone would come to see what I wanted and then cancel the buzzer, telling me theyd pass on my request to someone. I wouldnt hear about it again. Now..... do I press th buzzer again after an hour and risk annoying the staff, or do I assume they havent forgotten me and are just too busy? With a closed door between me and them and me being unable to get out of bed, I have no way of knowing what is right.

Anything else?

When a complaint is made by a patient, about staff or proceedures. Who is responsible for reacting to or acknowledging that complaint? Not answering a complaint or comment is highly impolite and for inpatients can be a cause for extra stress. Quite often all I required was a simple answer to a simple question, but nobody was 'available' to answer it. I admit I was placed in a surgical ward for a medical problem because thats just where a bed was available, but I was there for almost 3 weeks with surgical staff who were unable to assist me. When I asked about being moved to a medical ward, I was consistantly told that someone would 'get back to me'. They NEVER did.