"Excellent and reassuring."

What I liked

The cheerful but concerned approach of all that I met.

The ease of using the hospital - eg free and convenient parking.

The size of the centre appeared to me to be large enough to be equipped to deal with a wide range of medical cases - but small enough to allow a proper team spirit and collaboration.

Good follow-up after my visit - I was phoned by one of the nurses involved in my case within hours of my return home.

An accommodating booking team - unfortunately, I had to revise my follow-up appointments twice but this was no problem and suitable slots were available.

What could be improved

I was called in a second time in error for my pre-op assessment in spite of my questioning whether this was really necessary - an oversight I guess and not really a problem in the circumstances.

Move the centre closer to Taunton - but that might upset the people of Shepton!

Anything else?

As a natural doubter of PFI-type initiatives, I am glad to have had this experience that shows it can work - if indeed the centre is a PFI example.

But I am still uneasy that simple cases such as mine might be cherry-picked leaving the difficult cases to the public service provision.