"Highly satisfied with surgical treatment &..."

I recently (3rd – 12th June) underwent a fairly major operation (pm 3/6) and subsequently spent recovery time in Ward 5 Bay 2 of the hospital. I am now continuing my recovery at home.

May I formally comment on my treatment at JPH, and ask you to take note and to ensure that the wonderful staff concerned are made aware of what I write?

First, my consultant surgeon and team performed an excellent job – from pre-op, through surgery, to medical care during recovery in the ward. They at all levels were kind, considerate, patient and caring. They took trouble to keep me advised of what was going on and why, in terms I could understand.

Also, the nursing and ancillary staff on the ward worked tirelessly day and night to ensure that I, and the other patients, were always looked after in an appropriate manner. May I say, in the strongest terms, just how impressed my wife Jan and I were at the way all the staff in the hospital treated me. They are all loving, caring, competent and considerate people. And this despite the long hours and pressures under which they work.

From time to time Jan and I were appalled by the rude and aggressive behaviour of a few patients, but more particularly relatives, who considered that their ‘case’ was the only one and that they were more important than everyone else. It was brilliant to watch just how expertly the ward staff dealt with these individuals, and always in a loving way.

Now I’m afraid, a couple of minor grumbles:-

• Overall the food was adequate and good, with an appropriate range of choices. But, in my opinion, the ‘hot dishes’ were invariably too dry (at least for me) and thus not easy to eat.

• On one occasion I had to wait a long time for a response to the call bell. Yes, I appreciate that everybody is very busy, but I thought that 15 minutes of my ‘calling’ frequently without response when I was in a toilet, should have been picked up more quickly. I wanted to make the medical staff aware that I had passed and was passing a little blood in my urine through my catheter, but it could have been a serious problem.

• The hospital’s website is great, with plenty of information available, even if it takes a little ‘digging’ to find what you want to know. One thing would, I believe, help ‘outsiders’, and that is somewhere on the web where staff uniforms are displayed and explained – or did I miss that. (The information booklet once in the ward is fine.)

I do hope that you will be able to pass on ‘praise’ where appropriate to all the loving people with whom I came into contact.

May God bless you all.

[P.S. I have already recieved a letter in response to mine of 16/06/16]