"Thanks to the great staff - but more..."

Firstly I want to thank the wonderful and brilliant staff – doctors, nurses, the anesthetist, orderlies and everyone else too, during our day-visit for my 2-year-old’s emergency op. This was especially true after he came out of theatre – the healthcare was exceptional.

We did have some issues in terms of keeping a toddler comfortable, that could have been better managed, mostly down to lack of communication:

• There was an extended and unexplained delay before his being seen – we were there at 7:30am but did not go into theatre until 1:30pm which is really tough on him given we followed instructions not to eat on the day or have any liquids from 6am. I eventually found out it was because of complications in the operations ahead of him, for which I am very sympathetic – however this can’t really be explained to a 2-year-old.

• The play areas were closed for refurbishment, and the temporary indoor playroom was a conservatory which became unbearable to be in from about 10am, with the one TV there just with a playstation and not connected to any TV signal so no good for anyone under 10.

• The wifi stopped working around mid-morning, meaning I could not stream iPlayer etc to keep him occupied from his hunger and thirst, which further compounded the poor time he was having. There was nowhere to report wifi problems.

It’s not just for him – that he was upset and bored and being very vocal about it cannot have been a pleasant experience for either the staff or other patients and their families.

Of course, the boredom, hunger and thirst meant he was just uncomfortable rather than placed in any risk to his general health, and theatre must absolutely be prioritised on need and urgency. But it’s a lot to ask a toddler who doesn’t understand what’s happening to go an extended time without water or food. If it had been communicated earlier that we would be bumped to the afternoon, we could have managed his welfare much better by giving him at least some juice till 2-3 hours before he went in to theatre, gone to a local playground near the hospital to be back at an agreed time etc.

So my feedback would be:

• Pro-active and much earlier communication please if there is to be a delay, especially where a toddler is concerned, so the parents can better manage their welfare.

• Some way to report problems to the supplier of your wifi to have them resolved

• A simple working TV so we could watch the cbeebies channel (there was a further play area down the corridor where this could easily be done?)

• A more suitable location for the temporary playroom given the current summer temperatures, maybe some outdoor space with a temporary slide?

Hopefully you can take this into consideration for the future.