"The nursing staff were excellent ..."

What I liked

The nursing staff were excellent and kept me informed as much as they were able. Staff were attentive and caring and helpful. I found Ward 4 to be light and airy, quiet and very clean.

What could be improved

I was originally told my theatre slot was 3.30 (which I only found out by asking the aneasthetist) then when I asked for a drink (as others were getting water who were on pm list) was told my slot was being brought forward. I was soon settled in to my ward (Ward 4) expecting to go anytime around lunch time. Nurses were still expecting me to go earlier than scheduled but I was finally collected for surgery at 4.30 by which time my blood pressure was probably extremely high. Theatre staff need to appreciate that this is extremely stressful for patients. With surgery taking a couple of hours it is not hard to estimate when the next patient will be taken upstairs.

Anything else?

On this occasion a new booking in system for orthopaedic day surgery was being tried, somewhat unsucessfully. We were phoned and asked to be in at 7.30 am and still no one turned up until 8 am. Bed allocation seemed to be a bit of a lottery and didn't feel very organised.