"The staff on SHDU were lovely ..."

What I liked

The staff on SHDU were lovely and treated their patients with great courtesy and respect. The ward was very cramped though and nurses often had difficulty doing their work for lack of space. On one occasion this resulted in a nurse accidentally catching my husband's catheter tube and causing some considerable pain in delicate areas. She was mortified, but had there been more space for manoeuvre this would not have happened. Otherwise, the care was excellent.

What could be improved

If you are an anxious relative trying to find out how a very ill patient is, it is infuriating not to be able to get through to someone on the general ward. it costs a fortune in repeated calls, and only raises anxiety levels when no-one answers the phone. I really do appreciate that nurses are very busy indeed, but part of their work is surely to reassure worried spouses, parents or children - ? My own anxiety levels are through the roof, and as I am not allowed to visit before 4pm: that is a lot of the day to be anxious about a husband who has just been told he has cancer.