"A tale of two halves (my first real hospital admission)"

I really don't care if my observations are anonymous or not I may even rely these thoughts to the health care trust concerned as I would be more than happy to tear a strip out of someone in charge, as the my experience was of two complete polar opposites in two wards only a hundred yards or so apart, how standards can be so different in the same hospital in two different wards I have absolutely no idea.

I have a hernia, I have had it for many years, its never really been an issue, until recently, my previous doctor (now retired) told me if even there was a sudden change with my hernia, to get it checked out at A&E, even if it was nothing to worry about because it can be very serious if it gets "strangulated" the years rolled by and the day came that something did change, my stomach swelled and my hernia became painful to touch, with his warning echoing in my ears, off I went to A&E, better to be safe than sorry,

Part 1 (The first half)

Arrived at A&E, got bumped up the list and saw some very nice very helpful health professionals, told me not to worry and they passed me up the chain relatively quickly, they didn't think it was life changing but wanted someone higher up to have a look, got a few scans and admitted to the "Surgical Emergency Assessment Unit", the nurses introduced themselves and showed a real interest in me as a person, what was the issue, what to expect, when the doctors would be coming, was I in pain, did I need any pain relief, that evening the surgeons had a look, said its was probably going to sort its self out but they would hang on to me just in case and another consultant would take a look in the morning, so far so good 5 stars.

The following day, consultant has look and says in should be OK and the surgery could wait, they would do it soon, but not straight away, I was more than happy with that, other people on the ward were obviously in greater need than me, he also asks me if there are any other medical conditions he should know about, there was, just the day before my doctor had written me a private referral letter for a blood related issue, I had not really thought much of it but the surgeon seemed quite concerned and insisted I saw a haematologist before I went home, again an excellent response I thought and why not, after all I was already in hospital and so the haematologist.

Things took a while, wires got crossed but eventually I saw a consultant haematologist, he had a plan, all was good in the world again, at no point did I ever feel like I was imposing on someone else's time, the nurses and other staff went above and beyond to make my stay as friendly and as pleasant as a hospital stay can be, even the "challenging" patients were treated with the same professionalism and respect but of course did get told off a few times, the ward was immaculate, bed made every morning, new linen every couple of days, first class I could not have wished for more from the NHS and wondered why people berated it so much, OK everything took what felt like a very long time to happen, hours and in some cases days, but I was not on the top of the priority list and rightly so, the standard of every part of my experience from house keeping to patient care to just everyday life on a hospital ward was first class.

Part 2 (The second half)

I was out of the woods, my hernia reduced in size and after four days my bodily functions started to return to normal, never in my life have a been so pleased to pass a little gas, this turned out to be a good thing and a bad thing.

I am transferred to the general surgical ward, not really sure why as the time for surgery had passed but that's what I was admitted under to I guess that's why I was moved there. At this point I seemed to slip between the crack of two departments, but again I'm not going to complain about that, these things happen and as far as I know my conditions is not "serious" yet ! but this is where things start to fall apart, not for me, I was perfectly well enough to go home really just caught up in administrative confusion as at this point. I don't think anyone really knew why I was still in hospital, not me, not the doctors, no one really had a answer but that's not the issues I have.

Lets talk about about my new ward, this ward was different, I saw "my nurse" when I arrived, who spoke to me once to tell me their name, the atmosphere was very relaxed, lots of staff chatting, not to patients but to each other, no more people dropping by asking how you are and if you need any pain relief, much more a case of people running through the number to get to the end of the day, used bedpans left in shower rooms over night, toilet floor flooded with water and despite me reporting it to a nurse, still flooded an hour later.

One patient was being a pain, it might have been something it might have been nothing, I'm not a doctor so I don't know, but should a doctor really tell a patient (who speaks almost no English) that they need to man up and deal with the pain after surgery? What ever the case that's not acceptable in my book, the patient was "challenging" and everyone was getting fed up with it, mostly the noise, but they are still a human being, one nurse even stated in front of me and another patient that she had seen them enough times today so she wasn't going to bother any more for a couple of hours. The patient kept pressing the buzzer but each time after that it was a good 20 minutes before anyone came to check, then it got dark.

Again, I'm not a doctor but something be it physical or mental was wrong, a patient that had the same operation arrived one afternoon and left the following morning, this person was still "acting up" 4 days later, then came the night, this is when things got a little scary, they were still quite "loud" with their aches and pains, during the night at least once I heard them gurgling on their own vomit for what seemed like an eternity. I know what you are going to say it was probably only just a few seconds, it was not, it was a few minutes, in the end I got out of bed to find out what was so important the a no one had responded to the sound of a person choking on a silent ward in the middle of the night, thankfully just as I rounded the curtain a nurse came to take a look.

The second half of my stay for me was such an eye opener, it felt like I was just a inconvenience, imposing on hospital staff for having the audacity to be admitted into their little world and taking up their valuable time, even though I made no special requests, caused no issues, apart from barking at the doctors when the water on the toilet floor had not been cleaned up an hour after I reported it. I know its a bit petty but what if one of the really ill or older patients had slipped and fell, that could be life threatening for them. Even now I am back at home and have had time to think things over I am still shocked and in some respects appalled at how the level of care and quality of professionalism can be so far apart in two different wards that are literally only 100 yards part, how can things be so right and so wrong in one hospital at the same time, the wards are identical, the equipment is identical but my experience was not and I just can not understand how standards be be so high in one place and so low in another place in the same hospital.