"St. James's is like a first class hotel"

After a terrible stay at another hospital, St. James's was fantastic. I was there receiving treatment for colon cancer and I stayed on Ward 62. The hospital was so clean, it was like a first class hotel. The medical staff were fantastic. The surgeon worked really hard, he came in to see me at 7.30 in morning! He asked if I minded changing the day of the operation and when I said that was fine he was so kind. He laughed and joked with me.

However, I was annoyed that the nursing staff wouldn't let me do things for myself. I know they wanted to feel useful, but I wanted to do the things that I felt I could do! I wanted to be more independent.

The only real problem was that when I was discharged they tried to change my diabetes medication. I didn't want to go on different medication, but they didn't listen to me. I refused to take the new medication and eventually they let me go back to my old prescription.

I would like to thank all the doctors who helped me at St. James's. You can't fault them. They were clearly very busy, but still to time to care about me.