"Firstly, I would like to commend ..."

What I liked

Firstly, I would like to commend all the staff involved in my care. I felt that they all had a genuine interest in helping me to get well and understood how I was feeling.

I did observe some minor personality clashes between nursing staff but this does not surprise me considering the amount of pressure they are all under. As far as I could see these clashes had no direct impact on patient care.

I noted that most of the nursing staff involved in my care, once on a ward, worked for an agency and some of them spent a good deal of time talking to each other about their terms of employment. I felt it was a shame not to see more staff employed by the NHS and wonder whether NHS terms and conditions need to be made more attractive to nursing staff.

I was interested to observe that some patients seemed determined to set a kind of 'them and us' situation, ie staff v patients.

I was reassured to note that staff seemed to follow hand hygiene standards, with hand washing and use of hand gels in between patient contacts.

General hygiene standards seemed to be quite good but I imagine there will always be room for improvement in this area. The only exception to this was the cutlery I was given with one of my meals - it was quite filthy but I could not say whether this was, in fact, soap scum rather than something more alarming! The food itself was variable - sometimes quite tasty, other times not nice at all.

Finally, I'd like to say that overall I was impressed with the care I received and I felt staff made great efforts to ensure that I was as comfortable as possible.

What could be improved

Consistency of food quality. Cleanliness of cutlery. Communication between staff.

Anything else?

Just a big thank you to all involved in helping me to get well!