"Endoscopic sinus surgery - day case"

For a hospital that has received much negative publicity in recent years, I thought it only right to highlight the outstanding care I recently received here.

I was a day patient for an endoscopic surgical procedure on my sinuses and nose.

I was asked to arrive at 7.30am.

Within half an hour of arriving,

I had been booked in, allocated a bed and visited by the nurse, surgeon and anaesthetist who would be caring for me during my procedure.

The day ward was clean, tidy, bright and spacious.

It was also single sex and staff were vigilant in closing doors behind them / pulling curtains when necessary etc in order to maintain dignity of all patients.

The ward was full and as i waited for my operation , I saw several other ladies return from their respective procedures - all were treated with kindness, patience and understanding as they recovered from their procedures and got ready for home.

My own procedure went well - the anaesthetists had just the right level of humour to settle a nervous me and once back on the ward, the nurses were wonderful.

Unfortunately the general anaesthetic wiped me out more than I expected and despite being a day case,

I remained on the ward at 10pm, continuing to vomit.

Despite my insistence on returning home that night (to the point I called my husband to collect me!), the nurse patiently persuaded me to remain on the ward for the night where they could watch over me and ensure I felt set to go the next morning. Eventually I sensibly gave in and settled in for the night!

As the nurse predicted, the extra hours rest found me much more comfortable and I returned home the next morning.

from start to finish, I found all staff I cane into contact with to be kind, friendly and have the right balance of respect, understanding and humour to make a stay on the day unit as comfortable as can be! The nurses looking after me were all working 12 hour shifts on a busy and diverse ward and yet from my view they treated every patient with the time and dedication you would hope for and always with a smile on their face.

Hats off to you tameside - should I ever have the misfortune of needing day surgery again I'll be returning without hesitation! Thank you for making a much dreaded and unpleasant procedure as comfortable and bearable as possible. ?