"Night-time admission. Amulance ..."

What I liked

Night-time admission. Amulance staff outstanding. A & E staff excellent. Pre-op ward excellent.

What could be improved

I arrived with full make-up on and left 2 days later still with make-up on. At no time between admission and discharge, despite using a commode/bedpan on numerous occasions, did anyone offer me either a bowl of hot water, gel or a wetwipe to clean my hands. I had not been in hospital for over a decade and assumed I would be told when I could get out of bed with/without the drip stand to use the bathroom for a wash. I had to ask on my last day. When the Doctor did his rounds he said I could go home 'as soon as I felt well enough'. No-one asked me and the Staff Nurse was on the phone immediately to ask my husband to collect me. (I do understand the pressure on beds). The nurses were polite and efficient but the only converstation I had was with the young lady in control of the tea trolley. The word 'Nurse' seems today to mean taking blood pressure/temperature etc but the element of caring for a patient is no longer a part of the job description. Feeling low and crying on the last day, no-one enquired if I was OK. It was only in the evening when my daughter was helping me to dress that a kind nurse said I didn't look well and I could stay another night if I wanted (I didn't). The final straw was the woodlouse crawling across the floor as I was leaving. It is worth bearing in mind that it has taken me 18 months to write this. The NHS is sacrosanct in this country and no-one likes to criticise it. No-one likes to be known as a complainer. I am confident that 95% of the medical profession do an excellent job but there are still some issues, and until the British public speak up nothing will cahnge.

Anything else?

I am still distressed and now fear being admitted to hospital again.