"A number of issues."

This review covers a number of visits and appointments over the last 3 years. There has been no discernable improvement of the points raised however.

Patient Dignity.

Asked for a urine bottle to use and was left to get on with it, even though bedside curtains were left wide open in a busy ward during visiting time. I couldn't close them myself because I was wired and tubed up sitting on my bed.

Tubes inserted into dominant arm without asking which one is preferred. Being left handed with tubes poking out of my inner elbow meant that I could not bend my arm, leaving me having to function with my non dominant hand. One size does not fit all - does it cost so much time to ask - like they do at the JR in Oxford.

Letter for a minor outpatient op failed to mention that you should take a dressing gown and slippers along with you to sit in, in the pre op and recovery waiting room. The nurse checking me in did say their dept had mention this oversight to admin on a number of occasions.

Operation confirmation. My wife and I have had 4 operations between us. On every single occasion, the 18 week target date had passed with no communication or future dates being offered - leaving us having to write letters of complaint to prompt an offer of a date.

Patient Record Management. The hospital wrongly recorded a condition similar to mine on my records (but not the correct condition - think along the lines of a cold and the flu, similar but different. When I spotted the mistake a year later, my GP surgery refused to correct it without a letter from the hospital. I complained in writing to PALS about the hospital's record management, and the irony was that they replied to the wrong address and totally got my name wrong. Was told that the matters would be addressed in due course, but after waiting a number of weeks, I tracked down the individual who should have investigated and corrected the wrong medical diagnosis - who duly apologised but said their case load was too big and they didn't know if or when they would ever investigate my records and make the correction.

This hospital needs to employ 'properly' trained, qualified and competent administrators with experience of record management. They should also stop using nursing staff to act as clerks etc - they are not trained to work in an office environment or how to manage fling systems and generate correspondence.

The medical treatment and care however has always been faultless ... If you manage to get an appointment.