"Great surgical care - but I didn't feel cared for"

I was in Huntsman 4 at Northern General for a plastic surgery operation. This is the second time I’ve been in.

The good things were the consultant Mr Brotherton who was great. Answered all my questions and when I told him something was wrong he did something. Also one of the nurses who really looked after me and made my stay a lot better.

Things that could have been better were the cleanliness which I thought was very poor. I complained about what looked like some blood in one of the toilets but it was still there 3 days later. And when I had my pre-med I was lying in bed looking at a wall that looked as though it had a bloodstain on it which was not very encouraging.

Huntsman 4 has head injury patients on it as well as plastics cases and of course the head injuries are iller. It seemed to me that the nurses spent more time with them than with us plastics patients so buzzers took longer to answer and sometimes I waited quite a long time for pain relief. It was not the nurse’s fault – they were just stressed but the result was the same.

The thing that I would most like to change is the attitude of some of the Health Care Assistants. Some didn’t seem to do anything very much. After surgery I couldn’t move my arms or lift things and I cried because I didn’t feel I got enough help from them. When one was asked to help a patient move I heard her reply ‘I’m not doing that – I’ve done enough tonight!’ which doesn’t seem right.

The thing that made me angry was that my young daughter is not well but it was very difficult for her to visit me. I understand why they don’t allow children under 12 as visitors but my daughter really needed to see me and it was so difficult to make it happen. They just didn’t allow any lee way.

I’d like to thank Bijeux the nurse who was great and made my stay a lot better.

And Mr Brotherton who was fabulous changed my life.