"My hysterectomy at Staffordshire General Hospital"

About: Staffordshire General Hospital / Gynaecology Cannock Chase Hospital / Gynaecology

Posted by LibraryLady (as the patient), 3 months ago

I had a hysterectomy 2 weeks ago, and it was an excellent experience. I was given a 2 week referral, where I was given an operation date within 4 weeks. The operation was not postponed. The operation itself went really well, with a neat wound, and no pain relief needed, as I had none!
The care on the ward (8), was excellent. We could see that the staff were under pressure, as there were a lot of patients needing care, but they were always polite, friendly and helpful. A truly lovely group of people.
I was deeply concerned about the proposal to close A & E and they helped me deliver a letter to The Trust Managers, in support of the Hospital. Everyone on the ward had a lot of praise for their nursing care.
One area of concern to us was, when we were asked to leave urine samples for testing, it seemed unhygienic. Some people did not cover them, and there was no way of linking samples to beds or patients. We thought that bags to put containers into, or labels with bed numbers to stick on, would make it more efficient. It seemed to us that staff did not know whose records to amend.

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Responses

Response from Associate Director of Patient Experience , Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust on 24/11/2011 at 12:02 We are preparing to make a change

Thank you for taking time to provide us with your feedback. I am pleased to hear that you had an ‘excellent experience’ when using our services.
The decision to temporarily close A&E Department at Stafford Hospital from Thursday 1st December was taken because we do not think we can continue to provide a safe service 24/7.
This will be a temporary closure - there is no plan to close A&E permanently.
The Trust is working with the Primary Care Trust, the ambulance service and our other local hospitals to make sure that there are alternative arrangements in place for patients.
I am concerned about the issue with urine samples that you raised. We are already investigating this matter to ensure that good standards of care provision are being followed.

Response from Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust on 25/11/2011 at 12:31 We have made a change

Bedpans are left in the toilets/bathrooms for patient use when their urine output is to be measured only and not for testing. If urinalysis is required for testing a sterile pot is given to the patient with instructions for use.
To resolve this issue the action taken is: All bedpans have now been removed from the toilets/bathrooms and staff have been informed that when a patients urine output is to be monitored they are to give the patient a bedpan and write the patients bed number on it for identification and the bedpan is to be removed immediately after use.