"Cardiology Services, Royal Bournemouth Hospital"

I went to have a heart monitor fitted. My cardiologist had originally written to my GP and said he would arrange for a 7 day Novacor to be fitted but I was sent an appointment by the hospital to have a 24 hour monitor fitted instead.

I attended and was seen quite quickly. All the staff appeared very polite and friendly towards the patients. It turned out that somebody had made a human error and had sent me a letter about a 24 hr tape when in fact it should have been for a 7 day Novacor and the important thing was that this had been spotted and corrected by somebody in the department and had been rectified and I ended up having the right device fitted that the consultant had intended.

The lady who fitted my Novacor was extremely polite and professional and gave me a full explanation of the device, what to do and not do, and gave me plenty of time to ask any questions. She also gave me a useful tip about parking at the drop off point outside the main reception at the hospital when I was due to return the monitor, which was very useful, saved me driving round looking for a parking space, and meant that I could park outside the main entrance and drop off the monitor in about 30 seconds flat, so thank you for that tip!

The first monitor that the lady fitted didn't seem to be working properly when she started to check it, so she sought advice from a colleague who decided that the original device was not working and this was immediately changed for a new monitor which again was checked, reprogrammed with my details, and found to be working. Had this not been checked and acted upon, I might have wasted a week (and an appointment) wearing a broken monitor, so it was great that the staff were so careful and thorough.

I was also given a leaflet with the department's direct dial phone number on it in case I had any problems, which was useful.

Overall, I was very impressed.