"I travel over 100 miles often to this hospital..."

Anything else?

I have used University Hosital Coventry for 20 months now, using it for all my hospital needs even though it is over a hundred miles from my home and I need to travel there by train and bus. I find doctors and hospitals frightening in the extreme, but University Hospital staff are the kindest hospital staff I have ever encountered. This is a hospital that really values the individual patient and her or his needs and views. It takes patients seriously and wants them to participate in their care decisions. Patient perspectives and feedback are regularly addressed, even at hospital board level. University Hospital is a new, but from the outside not a pretty, bulding. Although it is one the largest hospitals in Europe, once through the door you will find it warm, friendly and welcoming. Its downstairs retail and public health areas are excellent. Its main outpatient waiting area has a transparent tented ceiling, so you can see the clouds scud by far above. I used its Day Surgery Unit for my most recent procedure, and I have used it once before. It is on the ground floor, has no windows, and feels claustrophobic to me. I know some other patients and staff also have this feeling. The beds are too close together, I think, and this means you overhear too many confidential conversations and feel inhibited from discussing confidential matters. The great advantage of the Day Surgery Unit is its relaxed staff and regime. It's a fantastically friendly unit, day and night. I liked being in charge of my own medicines, and feeling free to wander off after surgery to the cafes and shops on the ground floor. There are some brilliant surgeons at University Hospital and some great anaesthetists. With both my last two operations, there can be quite a lot of pain afterwards. I had none, even though I only took paracetamol and ibuprofen afterwards. No pain at all, straight after, or at any time in the succeeding days and weeks. I especially recommend keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery for inguinal (groin) hernia at University Hospital. You may have to wait longer to get it, because only one team does it, but having had the other open surgery elsewhere for inguinal hernia, my personal experience is that it is a way, way, better procedure with far less risks of bad after effects. Urology at University Hospital is an excellent department. I especially recommend you go there if you have a kidney stone.