"A excellent experience in a very well-run hospital..."

What I liked

My operation was CABG. The whole experience in London was about as good as I could imagine, with one or two temporary exceptions. All of the staff were fantastic, very attentive and communicative. I was kept well informed of my progress, which was rapid and I was discharged pretty much on schedule. The hospital appeared very wall managed and very well organised. I felt that the food was a cut above the general run of hospital food, which was something to look forward to each day.

What could be improved

Prior to the operation my wife and I stayed in the accommodation. It is good that such is provided FOC for this one night, but the standard of the accommodation is woeful. The accommodation is, I am sure, clean, but it is very cramped, especially for two. The mattresses were particularly awful. They had virtually no upholstery, so one was sleeping on a wire grid covered by a sheet! We had a very uncomfortable night and not much sleep.

When I was transferred to Floor 3 from ICU this was done in a great hurry, with no obvious hand-over procedure and for some time I felt as though I had been dumped in a wilderness, not helped initially by the attitude of one of the other occupants. This was rectified after some considerable time, after which I found that the level of care on this ward was actually excellent.

Unfortunately, five days after discharge I was re-admitted to hospital in Reading due to two complications. One was that the skin around the full length of my leg wound developed a Cellulitis infection, which needed IV antibiotic treatment and then cleared very quickly. The other was that my heart went into Atrial Flutter, with unpleasant palpitations, which I have subsequently learnt is not uncommon. I have a gripe that the "After CABG" documentation which I was given to take home by the heart Hospital did not mention this possibility, so it was initilally quite frightening. I was rushed into RBH early one morning in an ambulance as an emergency. This hospital stay turned out to be longer then the one in the Heart Hospital, while medication was adjusted to stabilse my heart-rate. I am currently waiting for Cardioversion in a few weeks time.

Anything else?

We are not sure what ther purpose of the front-door reception is. It does not seem to be security as all and sundry are able to wander in unchallenged. I feel that everyone who enters the building should be challenged, and checked against patient lists or signed in as visitors.