"Disappointed by care after my recent surgery"

Having had a hysterectomy by incision, I was disgusted at the care on the ward after the operation. Having been given leaflets about care, I was flabbergasted to realise this was not going to happen.

On the ward an ECG was needed. I have to say it took 3 nurses to be able to put the pads on properly and get the machine working. My faith in this ward was very rapidly fading.

On the ward was a very disruptive patient who was incredibly rude to the nurses, which in turn made me even more anxious and I was unable to settle. I was moved from that area to a quieter part of the ward, which was very thoughtful of one of the night nurses.

During the night I was monitored as were all the other patients. During the 2nd night, on wanting to go to the loo I rang my bell for assistance as I had oxygen, antibiotics hooked up, and needed help. Not one nurse bothered to help me out of bed or helped me unhook all the paraphernalia.

On the day of discharge when the doctor came round, he just looked at me and said "yes off you go". I then questioned him about the tachycardia and asked if everything had settled down. The doctor had not even looked at the part of the notes and was gobsmacked when I asked about this. He then looked at the charts and decided all was okay.

I had a dressing on the incision which I was told to have taken off 2 days later. I was not offered a return appointment for any check ups or anything. I had to have a relative remove the dressing as the hospital nor the doctors were allowed to remove it.

The scar then became infected and I had to fight for an appointment to get some sort of care from my GP's surgery. I really could not believe the standard of care and attitude of the NHS.

I feel there needs to be better patient doctor communication, as I was just to go home with no idea what I was to do, and no one available to want to answer any questions. Very, very disappointing.