"Liver Resection and 5 days in HDU"

Anything else?

Firstly, I should say that I am nor from Leicester - I'm from Northampton. I was referred to Leicester because it is, I am assured, the centre of excellence for liver surgery in the Midlands. I was scheduled to have a liver resection on 6 June 2013 - after spending the morning waiting i was sent home because there were no ICU/HDU beds free. I waited for five hours to be told this. After a week of not hearing anything and some chasing I was given a new date - 20 June and, to my shock a different consultant. I tried to find out abut the new consultant but he wasn't listed at any of the Leicester hospitals. i was met by the anesthetist who was great, she was very re-assuring and did a good job of calming me down. The surgery seemed to go well, a large tumor was removed. I am making a decent recovery at home. Following the surgery I came round in an intensive care bed and after a few hours i was wheeled around the corner to the High Dependency Unit. I cannot praise the quality of the nursing care I received highly enough. The ladies and gentlemen were brilliant - really attentive and meticulous, patient and very kind. Their notes are incredibly detailed. I cannot say the same for the doctors who would come round in groups, discuss my case and - sometimes make a decision. However, they appear to operate in a state of chaos where after a decision is made often, nobody appears to take ownership of matter and carry out what was decided. In reading my notes I saw more than one instance of this. The nurses would record what was decided in their notes and also indicate when they knew it had not been carried out. Also, I was handled by (junior?) doctors for simple things like taking blood samples. More then one of them caused pain and bruising then, not booking the sample in correctly leading to the sample being discarded. I must say that while I came to no harm, this state of affairs is unacceptable. I spent five days in ICU / HDU - not because I was ill or in difficulties but because there was no other bed to put me in - an absurd state of affairs. The original team supposed to be managing my case seems to have passed me to someone else. I have been referred to an oncologist I've never heard of at the other side of the county. I have no clue as to who is 'key-working' my case and frankly at this time feel unsafe. If you have to come to the LGH for liver surgery you will get good surgical treatment and infection control is taken very seriously. However, at this time I cannot recommend a hospital, which on the admission of a charge nurse I spoke to, is running at 110% of capacity. The nursing staff do their very best but are let down by the many of the doctors who are operating chaotically in 'teams' with no one of them taking ownership for what they're doing. Finally, a thank you to the nurses on Ward 27 - where I spent one night. They are all good humoured, kind and skilled.