"Some more insight into Ward 22"

I'm leaving this review because of the person who left a 1-star review of Ward 22 on behalf of her 85-year-old mother.

First off, no-one should have a 1-star experience and I'm so sad that her mother had a horrible time and remained traumatised by it. That's terrible and obviously there were some misunderstandings.

I'd like to put a different point of view, which is that I've got the highest regard for the care and professionalism of every single person who works on Ward 22. I've recently spent nearly a month in there after being diagnosed with double pneumonia and then having some complications, and last year spent 3 separate months in the ward having 3 rounds of chemotherapy as part of the treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia. I'm lucky to be alive and I credit Ward 22 with helping to keep me that way.

I've also spend time on Ward 2, one of the wards mentioned by your mother as being better. I mention this because Ward 2 was an awful experience for me - it's an extremely busy ward, which constant comings and goings and lots of chat. Unlike your mother, I greatly prefer to be quietly on my own, so my quiet single room in Ward 22 suited me perfectly. I fully sympathise with your mother who found that being quietly on her own wasn't a good experience, I can only say that I couldn't possibly have survived more than a single night on Ward 2 whereas I found Ward 22 perfect for me.

I'm so sorry that your mother felt isolated. I can only guess that somehow she wasn't shown how to use the call bell. My experience was quite different: the call bell was always answered. Sometimes the nurses or health assistants take a while to answer, because there are some very sick patients on Ward 22 and there are other patients who are having extremely dangerous drugs administered as part of their treatment. I've had some of those myself, where it would have been dangerous for the nurses as well as for me if they had broken off part-way through starting a particular chemo drug. That's why they don't always come straight away but I've never had the situation where they didn't come.

I'm also sorry that they didn't answer your phone calls around 8pm. I now know that 8pm is an exceptionally busy time on the ward, just at the time of handover where the day shift is transferring the care of patients to the night shift and also trying to keep up with the necessary administration of drugs and so on to patients. They are particularly stretched at that time, and I'm guessing that's why your calls went unanswered. Of course, there's no reason why you ought to know that.

I've written this because Ward 22 has been so good to me, helping me through 4 separate months of challenging and frightening treatment. I hope not to have to go back there but I know that if I do, they'll try their absolute best to make me well again.