"Understanding care for baby daughter"

The Trafford community children's nurse team came out to visit our baby daughter after a trip to the GP and recommended that we take her to hospital as she had bronchiolitis and was having trouble breathing well.

Triage at children's A&E was really quick and so support was given promptly. Our daughter was admitted to ward F8 where we received great care for 2 nights. The nursing staff were really helpful and caring, making sure our needs were met.

One in particular made me feel that nothing was too much trouble, making sure I was able to express milk for my baby so we could monitor her fluid intake. Despite being busy she took a little bit of time to chat to me about being a new Mum in general, which made me feel like she really cared about me as an individual and understood how it felt to be a new mum. She made sure to check everything was ok when it took a while to settle my daughter and it was great to know she was on hand if needed. I felt that she took time for each person and we were in very safe hands.

The healthcare assistants went the extra mile, and again took time to talk to us through everything, making sure that we were well looked after as parents. I was really impressed with their approach to patient care. I couldn't fault much about our stay, other than a slight lack of communication from being in triage to moving upstairs (when a bed was suddenly wheeled into the room for me for the night after me being told we would only be admitted for a few hours and a nurse suggested our baby's condition was potentially very serious as she was receiving some oxygen support).

I was reassured by the doctor on duty, who gave me a clear understanding of our baby's condition and took the time to explain and answer questions. The next day the consultant gave me different information which was a bit confusing and I didn't feel my questions were answered or really understood, but on the whole this did not prove to be a big issue and nursing staff made sure I did have a clear picture when I asked their advice.

Thank you to all of you for your care and support and I would just like to say again how lucky the patients on this ward are to have such caring HCAs in particular, as often they are first on hand to respond to immediate needs and provide non-medical reassurance just by their friendly attitude.