"Surgical experience exz"

What I liked

I recently received a hip replacement and was on Oken Ward. While it is still early days, I have no reason to doubt that my surgeon did an excellent job and that I will make a full recovery. All details of the operation appeared to be handled with great professionalism.

What could be improved

I felt that there were too many occasions where I was treated as a problem to be ticked off, rather than as a person.This included dumping me by my bed after my arrival and then leaving me alone for 40 minutes (shaking with nerves), being unwilling to offer a view as to whether it was feasible for me to eat a cooked meal lying virtually flat, asking whether I was 'still refusing' to take a certain painkiller when all I'd done was comment that my GP had suggested I didn't take it, or mentioning for the first time 10 minutes before discharge that I would have to visit my GP Practice Nurse and then looking rather irritated that I expressed confusion as to why I was being told something totally new at this late stage (this instruction was countermanded by someone else, which made it even sillier).

Much is made of the SWAT team, who visit you after discharge. The theory that people will come to your home to discuss any issues you may have, is great, The video on the hospital website shows a team member arriving 'on the afternoon of discharge' and then for a few days after. I had one visit the day after, from an overworked nurse who clearly had a number of boxes to tick off, followed by a phone call the next day.