"Recent knee operation at Pilgrim Hospital"

Went in for an operation on my right knee, I'd had the same one 6 years previous on my left knee there, so was expecting a similar experience, how wrong could I be!

To be fair, the pre-operative care was spot on. It was only when I got to the operating room, that things started to go wrong.

1st off, I was fitted with a cannula and after having about 3 goes at finding a vein (never had any problems previously) they stuck it in at an angle that hurt like hell.

After coming round, I was then left on the bed for 2 hours as my oxygen levels were slightly low, but were not checked before I had anaesthetic and didn't in fact change for the next 6 hours.

After 2 hours of being told to "breathe deeply" and no improvement of the oxygen levels, I was wheeled back to the Ward, where I can only describe as being "dumped", because all I then had for the next 4 hours was monitoring of my oxygen levels (which didn't change) and no explanation of what had been done to me, or how I should take care of the knee or anything.

My wife was also made to feel like a criminal, as since my last operation, close relatives are now banned from sitting at the patients bedside (we were not informed of this) and she had to plead to be left in the day room (despite it being virtually empty most of the day).

As my wife doesn't drive, to be kept away from my bedside is certainly unacceptable.

I had no contact with the surgeon for another 10 days, as I had heard nothing from anyone and was concerned about the amount of pain that I was still in a week later, I phoned into the ward and eventually got a return call 3 days later.

Imagine my horror, when I was then informed that they hadn't managed to do everything to my knee that they wanted and would have to go through the whole operation again in the future.

Not good Pilgrim, you really need to have a look at your post-operative procedures, as they are a long way from perfect at the moment.