"Dart Ward - Feedback on My Stay"

Anything else?

During my stay on the Dart Ward in November 2012 I found the daytime nursing staff pretty good to very good. The night time staff, nurses and assistants were very similar except one nurse. She was unsympathetic, curt to rude, in fact she gave the general impressing that she didn't want to be there. I was on a constant sterilized water drip to flush out my bladder. On my second night there, the night nurse put a new bottle on the drip and turned it on. In later, just after I had finally managed to drop off to sleep, the SN came along and turned it off. I can only imagine that she did this so that the bottle would not need changing again during the night. In the morning when the day staff took over, they discovered that the drain tube was dry. I was in quite a bit of discomfort that was not alleviated until the drip was restarted and I had been flushed through again. The doctor was not best pleased when he heard what had happened.

The food was terrible. the choice was very limited, but this as it happened did not matter as it was all terrible and tasted the same. The quantities served were woefully inadequate. I lost two kilos over the four days of my stay.

The cleaning staff performed a very perfunctory role. A patch of dried blood remained on the floor by my bed for the best part of two days. Eventually it was a nurse who removed it. The light and television fixtures were regularly dusted, whilst I was still in my bed space, so I benefited from any fallout!

When I was discharged I received no information other than "You can go now". There was follow on or follow up; no "does and don'ts". On request from my partner I did receive some extra dressings to tied me over as I was discharged on a Sunday.

All in all I was generally satisfied with my care during my stay. The exceptions I have outlined above unfortunately marred the whole experience. The day time nursing staff were faultless, good humoured and attentive. The night time staff could have been the same, but were hindered in doing so by the SN. This was usually a topic of conversation between the patients each morning.