"Disappointed with daycare treatment"

Anything else?

I had a knee arthroscopy as a daycare operation yesterday. Good: Surgeon and anaesthetist professionalism. Hospital appearance. Bad: 1 hour delay before nurse 'check in' - spent alone in my room with the door closed, wondering if I had been forgotten (which they later admitted I had). Check in was slow and repetitive as 2 nurses (one new hire) asked the same questions and tried to complete the same pre-op monitoring. Delay before seeing physio, anaesthetist and eventual surgery was not communicated. Too many different nurses who were generally unfriendly,with seemingly little care for me - they rarely knew anything about me or my history and most things seemed too much trouble (eg. Can we call you tomorrow as otherwise I will have to go downstairs and reboot the computer to book a physio appointment) No offer of pre-medication - the only mention was the anaesthetist who I met for the first time 15 minutes before the op and said something like "you've had your pre-med, right". New phone in room - didn't work. No blood pressure checks after surgery - despite the nurse telling me I would need one before discharge. Cup of tea offered postsurgery did not arrive - despite asking again 30 mins after first request. Food was slow and inedible - cream of tomato soup far from creamy, bread dry, creme brûlée missing the brûlée part, can of Pepsi served without a glass (or even a plastic/paper cup.... When I had managed what I could the trolley was pushed to one side (not removed from the room) so that not one, but two catering staff then later entered the room to see if I had finished. Suggestions for improvement: As a surgery patient, arriving alone, it would have been nice to have been introduced to my nurse on arrival and put at my ease about the day ahead. For example - told who would be seeing me before the op, an indication of timing (proactvely updated when things changed), practical info like when to get changed (into what), discussion on the need for pre-op meds. Perhaps they could have even tried to build rapport with me and asked some (any!) questions about me, my condition, my family etc. Although I understand staff changes happen, the fact that I saw upwards of 6 nurses, two physios and countless catering staff during my short stay seems excessive. Of the countless negative experiences I have no idea which nurses to pin point (and likewise which to single out for praise - although inexperienced and slow, the new nurse from South Africa did at least chat to me and try to put me at my ease). Train nurses to care - or at least show an interest. When I got upset and nervous pre-surgery the nurse showed little compassion and stuck to the stand messages when describing delays - accepting no responsibility for the poor communication, let lane trying to calm me down. The description and quality of the food really needs to improve as does the speed of serving hot drinks after surgery. If you are offering a phone, make sure they work.