"Ward 12 was fantastic! Really impressed"

After suffering shortness of breath, wheeze and cough my GP sent me to hospital for further investigation and assessment. I was admitted to Ward 12 (respiratory) after spending the day in the Medical Admissions Unit, part of Ward 7.

I was transferred around 7pm and the staff on 12 were welcoming, introduced themselves and was told to let them know if I needed anything. This made excellent first impressions and I felt straight away that I could approach members of staff and felt in a safe environment.

Throughout my stay staff, both nurses and healthcare assistants, were attentive to patients needs and concerns. Staff treated patients as individuals and made the effort to chat and talk to them - which makes a huge and positive difference!

Great communication skills and patient choice were demonstrated. An example of this was a patient was due to be getting discharged soon and the nurse said to the patient along the lines of, not thinking about where you think we want you to go or where the doctors wants you to go, when you get discharge where would 'you' like to go. This is really important to give the patient the choice and to actually listen to what they have to say - its so easy to make decisions for the patient, which actually might not what they really want. On my second day the ward Sister came to speak to me and asked me how I was getting on and also informed me that she took a phone call from my mum.

The food at DGRI was first class and always delivered hot - I hope its just as good at the new hospital. The nurses appreciated my nursing background (I'm a trained nurse) and allowed me to contribute to my own care and wellbeing. Things like allowing me to set up and start my nebuliser and go into the day room with an oxygen cylinder were small things that impacted positivity on my inpatient experience.

I was very pleased and impressed with the care delivered during my 3 days spend in Ward 12 - a credit to all the staff (doctors, consultants, nurses, healthcare assistants, cleaners, pharmacy, physiotherapists etc). You are a good team and one that NHS D&G should be proud of! Thank you kindly: )