i had my operation admission time of 7am. Seen all the relevant people by half past 8 and was told I was second on the surgeon's list. I didn't have the surgery until nearly 4pm. Not once did anyone come to explain what was happening. I was just left sat there along with other people in the same boat. I was left in recovery because there wasn't any beds on the ward. I got on to the ward, and all the staff were friendly. However, no regular pain relief was given. So I pressed the bell and had to wait 20 minutes for someone to come in and sort pain relief out. Waiting was a regular occurance. It got to the point where I had to plan going to the toilet. Misplacing my notes happened more than once. It didn't help because I never seen the same member of staff, no one really done a proper hand over. So I found that I was often repeating myself. I was taken for an X-ray and no one could tell me why. There is so little communication on this ward. No one asked me if I wanted a wash or to get changed. On one day I was asking all morning before someone managed to get me a bowl of water. I also ran out of drinking water. I asked for 4 hours before I got a fresh jug. One night I had people visiting. They thought it would be nice to get me out of bed and get some fresh air. However, the ward did not have a wheelchair that had a leg support which I needed. And according to the nurse in charge, hardly any wards would have this type of wheelchair, only the physiotherapists would have them. But she didn't try to find us one. Another nurse came with a normal chair and tried propping my leg up with boards and pillows, but this was no help. On the plus side, I couldn't fault the majority of people for how friendly they were. Especially the staff that do the meal round. Always made me smile, and asked how I was doing. They were a real pleasure to be around. Always made sure everything I had so I was comfortable. Always had a smile on their faces and always polite. I couldn't rate them high enough
"disorganised chaos"
About: Southmead Hospital Southmead Hospital Bristol BS10 5NB
Posted via nhs.uk
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