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My experiences in Norwich Hospital & at Rotherham

Posted By Honest336

"My experiences in Norwich Hospital & at Rotherham"

About: Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital Rotherham Hospital / Trauma and orthopaedics

(as the patient),

I broke my hip in May 2012. The care I had was wonderful! I was on Gateley ward in Norwich, and was treated by Mr Hopgood. I had the utmost care and compassion from everyone on the ward. The attitude of staff was fantastic. All the nurses and doctors get 100% rating for the care they gave me. Also – everything was clean and amazingly hygienic. Just first class care. I think this is the best hospital ever. After 3 days I was walking – I couldn’t believe how fast that was. Even though I’m 73 they got me walking so quickly.

I cannot help but compare this to when I was in Rotherham with a fracture on ward B3. I was incredibly busy and there just weren’t enough staff. They didn’t have the time to give patients any attention. Norwich had a ward that was dedicated to elderly rehab (perhaps they have more money? ) – this meant that staff had time and were trained to support patients in getting back on their feet. In Norwich, you could sleep because it was all quiet, the nurses weren’t shouting and it was peaceful. It was the complete opposite in Rotherham where the busy staff talked through the night.

I think that Rotherham is good too. The staff are lovely, but there just weren’t enough staff and they couldn’t be as caring, because they were too busy. They really need a separate ward to help elderly patients recover from things like fractures, where the staff have time and resources to properly support the recovery of their patients. It’s a shame that Rotherham doesn’t have the staff and resources that Norwich do.

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Responses

Response from Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital 11 years ago
Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital

Submitted on 18/03/2013 at 17:11
Published on nhs.uk on 06/01/2014 at 09:36

We are pleased to hear that the staff looked after you so well on Gateley Ward and we have passed your comments to the ward sister.

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Response from Grace Oldfield, Patient Involvement Manager, Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust 11 years ago
Grace Oldfield
Patient Involvement Manager,
Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

As part of my role, I support clinical services who undertake patient and public involvement on behalf of The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust which helps us to develop or redesign our services with patients in mind, from the valuable feedback we are given.

Submitted on 19/03/2013 at 10:43
Published on Care Opinion at 12:41

Dear Honest336, thank you for taking the time to place this posting and please accept my sincere apologies for your experience at our hospital, which I was most concerned to hear about. I also apologise for not responding sooner, but I needed to ensure the information I provided was accurate and have asked the Matron for Orthopaedics to provide this.

Ward B3 is a trauma ward and you are right that this is a busy acute ward. As a hospital we are currently reviewing our staffing levels, and I apologise that there didn’t appear to be sufficient staff to give you adequate attention during your stay as this is not the standard we strive to achieve. If our staffing levels are below what we would expect, for example due to staff sickness, we do move staff from other wards as appropriate or utilise our own nurse bank and I am sorry that this did not appear to be the case during your stay. Having a dedicated ward for the rehabilitation of patients following fractures is something we would like to achieve but unfortunately has not been possible. Where possible we utilise beds in Intermediate Care or our community hospital for rehabilitation, but again this is not always achieved.

Thank you for your kind comments regarding the staff and whilst Ward B3 is a busy ward and can be noisy at night time due to patient’s being admitted through the night, I would not however expect you to be kept awake by nurses talking through the night and I sincerely apologise that this was your experience and have asked the Matron to discuss noise particularly at night with staff as this is certainly not what we would expect.

If you would be willing to take a little more of your time, please contact our Patient Service department on 01709 424461 who will be more than happy to discuss this aspect of your care with you and thank you again for taking the time to raise your concerns with us.

Kind regards,

Grace

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Response from Janice Bradfield, Senior Communications and Membership Manager, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 10 years ago
Janice Bradfield
Senior Communications and Membership Manager,
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 13/06/2013 at 10:53
Published on Care Opinion at 19:25

We are pleased to hear that you had a good experience at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and that you thought the ward was clean and the staff caring. Getting up and about after surgery is very important and we are pleased to see that you were able to get mobile shortly after your operation.

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