My husband was admitted via A&E, being discharged at 9pm several nights later as they had ascertained he was not in danger of dying and therefore not in need of hospital care. He then waited 4.5 hours for his discharge paperwork and medication. The hospital is brand new yes, but it feels like an airport - all parts of it are cold - a novelty for a hospital! The heating in my husbands room was broken, we closed his bedroom door one afternoon so he could have a nap for about 2 hours and by the time I opened it again my hands were blue and my feet numb My husband stayed on two wards and both seemed to be long long corridors with individual rooms - surely this just wastes space and gives staff more work as they can only see one person at a time??? It also doesn't stop the dementia patient waking the whole ward up. There was always someones buzzer going off and my husband routinely waited in excess of 30 mins just to be given painkillers. Incidentally Southmead is too posh to have wards - they have gates! how pretentious! The signage is also horrific - you may know what gate number you need but they aren't on the maps - the maps show the area of specialism you wish to visit which is pointless. As an aside for visitors - parking is paid for on arrival so make sure you know how long you want to stay and is in change only - they do not provide change machines, take notes or take card payments and you are unable to get change at the shop (this is a 15 min walk away anyway) Best tip buy a weekly ticket - it's £15 but up to 2 hours costs £3 so you get your money's worth if you're visiting someone several times. Another note for visitors - you will not be able to get a hot meal at the hospital - there are 2 Costa Cafes and a small League of Friends coffee shop. If like me you are visiting someone after work, you wont be able to get through the traffic until probably 7pm, visiting is til 8pm but I was never asked to leave - expect to get home at 10pm and then start cooking yourself some food The traffic round the hospital is horrendous and I actually had to queue on the hospital site yesterday as the buses round the main entrance had blocked the roundabout. The multi-storey car park is plainly insufficient but they are building another one, no idea when that might be open. The majority of the staff seemed friendly but seemed to just have too much to do - I would not recommend this hospital to anyone and will certainly actively avoid going anywhere near it again.
"Go somewhere else!"
About: Southmead Hospital Southmead Hospital Bristol BS10 5NB
Posted via nhs.uk
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