"Great stay, great service, great hospital"

I was welcomed into the Day Surgery Reception at the Royal London Hospital on Wednesday 29th November 2017 for an aneurysm repar. A sister briefed us on what to expect and as names were read out I was moved into the reception area and had visits from surgery and anaesthetics teams to give me the low down on what progress my operation would take. Great communications and everything explained and off we went to be anaesthetised and seemingly the next second I was surfacing in the recovery room where an angel in nurses’ uniform looked after me until it was time to move to the High Dependency Unit on the 4th floor. I was met over the short time I was there by many members of staff. Headed by the very charismatic and friendly consultant of Intensive Care. All were astonishingly busy from paperwork to clinical equipment supervision and the general nursing care ethos. All were faultless in the care delivery and expertise.

Professional, friendly, skilful staff looked after me for the 24 hours I would be there before moving to the Vascular Ward.

On the Vascular Ward, I was moved into a side room and visited on a regular basis from consultants to nurses who ensured my stay would be comfortable and that my needs would be met. Everyone was of the highest professional grade and nothing to little for them to solve. Smiles a plenty, skills displayed and friendliness gave me a comfortable feeling. Even bringing me cups of tea, doing obs and gently giving me medications and injections which I hardly felt. Good long talk with one of the nurses who wasn’t sure of the direction their career path would take, but definitely nursing.

I can’t list all the staff who looked after me but no-one fell short and everyone went that extra mile.

Food was quite good and nutritious and plenty of choices. It staggered me to think that around 1600 patients were fed three times a day, plus tea and coffee. It must be a very well oiled catering machine.

All in all, my experience was a very positive one and I can’t thank those who pulled out all the stops to ensure a quick and pain free recovery. Very many thanks to this wonderful hospital for being so efficient, caring, and expert in all their dealings.