"Brilliant staff"

I recently had a 8 night/9 day stay in Ward 8 after developing DVT following the birth of my daughter, as well as treatment with the Interventional Radiology department during my stay.

Before I even arrived the ward was in contact with me as I had a two week old baby who would need to stay with me due to being breastfed. A cubicle/side room was made available for me to allow her to be with me.

Throughout my stay the staff were all amazing. They were all sympathetic, as what we were originally told would be a 2-3 day stay tripled for various reasons, and made sure I was kept comfortable at all times. I felt involved in all decisions concerning my care and even when I didn't totally understand what the doctor had said, one of the nurses was lovely and explained it when I asked. They always made the effort to stop and chat when doing checks even though the ward was always busy (or so it seemed to me). The team in IR who did the thrombolysis were all very friendly and made sure I knew what they were doing at each stage of the procedures.

All of the staff were great but the nurses on ward 8 definitely made what was a stressful time so much easier, especially with a new baby.

The only thing I wasn't pleased with was that I struggled to express 48oz of milk to bring with me in case the medication I was put on was not safe for breastfeeding. The staff on ward 8 were fine and told me a different ward had better storage facilities for the milk so it was taken there. When my partner asked for some due to me going to theatre, we were informed that all but 10oz (3-4 feeds) had been binned. I understood that they had a policy of only keeping it in their fridge for 48 hours, but some of the milk had only been expressed that morning. Also, a freezer was available as they put the small amount not binned in there. All of the milk was within the NHS guidelines for being stored in the fridge so to have it binned without being informed, or asked if I wanted any of it back first (it can be beneficial on dry skin etc even past the feeding time limits, which my daughter had) was very disappointing and frustrating. Thankfully the medication was safe so it didn't cause too many issues but I was not happy about this from the other ward.

Overall though it was a positive experience in the circumstances and I'd recommend the hospital to anyone needing similar treatment.