"Hospital was clean."

What I liked

Hospital was clean.

What could be improved

I was not cared for at all after my hernia operation on C floor. I was wheeled to the ward and left. I was expecting some sort of feedback about the success of my operation but i was told my surgeon had gone home and I would not see a doctor until the next morning. It was now 11pm and 23 hours since I'd had anything to eat or drink. No-one would come to see me unless I pressed the emergency button which seemed to annoy the nurses immensly. My throat was so dry that I could not sleep and the nurse told me I could not drink until I saw the doctor the next day. I did not trust her opinion as she just sounded like she could not be bothered and insisted on asking another nurse. This other nurse told me that she had spoken to a registrar and it was OK for me to eat and drink and I could have had a drink 3 hours ago! If I would have listened to the first nurse only I would not have had a drink till 12 midday the next day when I finally saw a doctor by which time I would have been seriously dehydrated. I was told I couls go home by a doctor who had nothing to do with my sugery and basically just lifted my top and glanced at my wound. I was given no advice on my recovery at home. I never felt 'cared' for at all during the night and following morning and the only thing stopping me complaining at the time was because I was aware of many other patients in a worse state than me. To rub salt in the wound I was 'missed' when they brought round the breakfast and had to chase someone down the corridoor to get some lunch. I've nearly got this all out of my system but one more thing just sprang to mind. When I told the nurse my bed was broken and that I couldn't lower the headrest to sleep she had a quick look and walked off saying 'yes...they are all like that', I expected her to come back with someone to fix it...she didn't. I eventually fixed it myself bu pulling out the plug for 5 minutes and re-plugged it in, resetting the headrest allowing me to sleep.

Anything else?

I have great faith in the NHS and dearly want it to be so much better than this. If this is a purely funding issue it must be addressed although I feel that there must be more effort to ensure that people entrusted with the duty of caring for patients must be truly caring people. I did not encounter one caring nurse during the night shift although things drastically improved I must say with the arrival of a new team in the morning.