"Caring,empathetic and informative staff"

I am on a waiting list for major orthopaedic surgery and have recently passed through the system via three hospital visits relating to triage/X-rays, consultant and pre-op assessments.

On each visit I met several staff in the course of their duty to me, the patient. In every case I was treated with respect, dignity and empathy.

The empathetic aspect relates to my fear of surgery, hospitals and post-op 'downtime'/rehabilitation.

I repeated my fears to just about all staff involved in the screening process until I was beginning to form the opinion in my mind that I probably didn't require the surgery - anything to avoid it despite the professional opinions to the contrary.

Eventually I received a call to set a date for surgery and of course I launched into the 'fear story' yet again. In short, the staff member calling went through the whole process again to convince me that I certainly would not be on a surgical waiting list if it wasn't warranted - obvious, really when not consumed by fear/anxiety.

Throughout the process, all staff skillfully gave the impression that I was their only patient - no sense of rushing through the process because of the number of patients in the waiting rooms etc..

First class treatment throughout.