"I was in hospital for 5 days, ..."

What I liked

I was in hospital for 5 days, having 2 procedures 24hrs apart. The caring, professional, attentive level of care I received was consistent and very reassuring during a time of immense pain and anxiety. I have nothing but praise for the team on Elstead Ward, the lovely lady who did my pre-op assessment, and both the Radiology team and the surgical team - thank you all so very very much. It's not an experience I would like to repeat but you all got me through it and out the other side.

What could be improved

The high state of anxiety waiting to know if there would be a bed for me on the day I was booked in..my first call to admissions was at 10am and they said there were no beds, at 3.30pm I was told there were 20 patients waiting to be admitted and only 1 bed available so it was unlikely I would be going in. At 4.40pm I was finally called to say that I had a bed. My procedure had been cancelled a few weeks earlier due to complications that had shown up on my MRI scan and I was at that time already in a great deal of pain, so having to wait all day under threat of it all being cancelled again was just unbelievably distressing. I was lucky..but feel enormous sympathy for those who were not so fortunate that day.