"I had to carry my pillow around with me!"

I was diagnosed with U.C. in April 1966 at Ashford Middlesex and I moved to the south coast in March 1998. I have been a patient of the Sussex county hospital since that date. I have regular six monthly check ups and find the staff and doctors knowledgeable and helpful. I have experienced several “flare ups” during the time I have been a patient and a phone call to Dr. Cairns the consultant of IBD results in a remedy to my problems. It’s wonderful to be able to have instant response.

I was then admitted to the cardiac ward in June 2008 and I was given a valve replacement and two by pass. I am sorry to say that I felt let down by this department of the hospital. It was like being on a conveyor belt with most of the nursing staff having neither the time of the patience to look after the sick. It feels as though they are programmed to get you out of the way within a week at any cost. I thought that the facilities were dreadful. For example, they were so short of pillows that we had one small one each and had to carry it whenever you left your bed in case it disappeared! The food was inedible, and it seemed that some doctors were only interested in the private patients.