"The medical staff, nurses, dieticians,play..."

What I liked

The medical staff, nurses, dieticians,play department,school,physios etc are excellent.

The cubicles are a good size.

The pull down beds for parents are great.

The en-suite facilities are good.

What could be improved

The whole hospital could be improved. The white paint makes it look and feel cold, clinical and soul-less. Put some pictures or murals on the walls. The sign for the mortuary needs moving from the entrance, a grandmother came to the play department looking for the mortuary, not a pleasant experience!

The menu needs to alter on a weekly basis, especially for children who spend long periods in hospital. The food served on the wards is appalling, maybe different caterers would help to remedy this. I was paying up to £10 per day on take-aways because my son refused to eat the food.

The gym in the physio dept is totally inadequate. It is not long enough for the bleep test, the ceiling is too low for trampolines or basketball, the sensors on the ceiling are not protected, so the children can't kick a ball about. The reason for the children attending the gym is to exercise, not much chance of that, The physiotherapists are working in almost impossible conditions. The only remedy I can think of is to build an extension where the windows are and to make it two stories high, making space to actually run about.

Anything else?

I have tried to be fair and offer ideas for improvement where I can see them. Unfortunately long term patients and parents were promised the world with the new hospital and we have been bitterly disappointed. Hopefully things will improve with time.