"Great hospital, great team - some investment..."

What I liked

I went to St Helier A&E on Thurs 21st 9am after having had abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea for 4 straight days. I was seen within 20 mins by the nurses, and immediately taken through to the main A&E dept. The nurses, two in particular, were wonderful, and took blood etc to check what was going on. By midday I had been taken for xray of my abdomin, and admitted to a Surgical assessment ward as my blood test was abnormal.

I then spent the rest of the day til after 8pm as nil by mouth as was waiting for an ultrasound. Eventually this didnt happen so was allowed food, and Friday was a repeat. I did see the consultant, who suggested I had gallstones, but wanted the ultrasound. the staff on SAU were ok, but due to the fact that I wasnt showing outside sysmptoms of sickness I was moved to M2 ward on Friday at 11pm. I was upset about this, but it turned out to be the best thing ever.

Staff on M2 are absolutely wonderful, the ward is on the ground floor and easy for visitors to find. I was lucky enough to be there with some great other patients so we managed to enjoy our time there.

Due to it being the weekend, I still didnt get an ultrasound, but at least I could eat and drink, and was hooked up to IV fluid.

I was finally taken to ultrasound within the womens dept, not the main hospital on the Monday afternoon, where I was shown lots of gallstones.

Released on Tues 26th June at lunchtime, and now waiting for a surgery date to have my gallbladder out.

Nurses, cleaners etc were wonderful on M2, I cant remember all the names, Sister Linda is amazing and will get stuff done/chase consultants.

What could be improved

- There doesnt appear to be enough ultrasound machines/staff available - on the M2 ward, we were all waiting for this, and in the end the Gynae ultrasound did everyones.

- On weekends, it is really difficult to see a consultant or anyone on the teams to be able to get updates. Nurses do what they can, but at times you just want to hear the info from a doctor.

- Moving patients at 11pm at night is very disruptive - on the Sunday night, there were so many admissions into the ward between 12am and 6am, that no one on our ward got any sleep.

Anything else?

If the hospital trust gets rid of the A&E dept, then the whole of Sutton will lose out on a very good service, and have to use St Georges in Tooting whichis such a distance.