"I went to DRI for vascular surgery ..."

What I liked

I went to DRI for vascular surgery & the staff at theatre admissions were wonderful. Everything was explained to me really well regarding my surgery. The nurse intoduced herself to me & made my visit very personal & ensured I was looked after before my operation. In fact all the nurses were lovely & very friendly.

I also met the surgeon & assistant who were also lovely & explained all the details of what was going to happen to me.

I was very nervous but the way that I was dealt with relaxed & reassured me.

What could be improved

After I had recovered from my anaesthetic I was taken to ward 18 where the experience did not at all match that of the theatre admissions staff.

I asked one of the nurses how long I would have to stay on the ward & received the reply 'pass - maybe a couple of hours?'

When the anaesthetic starting wearing off I pressed the button for the nurses attention in order to get some pain relief. I waited so long (in pain) that my partner had to go and get a nurse for me instead.

One nurse came to check on me after I had my pain relief but that was it in the form of aftercare.

I had still not been told how long I would have to stay on the ward so again, after pressing the button for the nurses attention & to no avail, my partner went to ask how long I needed to be there for. They told him once I eaten & used the toilet. I had eaten already & had I known this information earlier would have also been to the toilet!!

So again - I rang for assistance for someone to take my drip off so I could do what had been asked. Surprise - no-one came until about 20 mins later.

After this I was told that I could go home. I asked for my doctors note & the nurse asked me if I needed anything else. I was very surprised that she didn't tell me what I needed to do. It seemed like there had been no communication between the theatre & the ward.

After a long wait the nurse brought me my prescription but I then had to ask again for my doctors note.

I spent over 5 hours on the ward in the end when I could have probably gone home earlier if someone had told me what the process was.

I appreciate the staff might be busy but a simple explanation at the start would have saved all this.

Anything else?

I would definately use DRI again as overall my experience was very good but I felt that I should provide this feedback.