"The hospital departments we visited ..."

What I liked

The hospital departments we visited were bright and cheerful, and had a comforting feel to them.

The porters were helpful and efficient, and the ex-ray staff were excellent.

What could be improved

Better understanding of patient involvement!

Better understanding of patient needs.

Anything else?

My 4 year old son was sent to the hospital by the GP with suspected pneumonia, he was very poorly at the time and distressed.

We were first directed to a play area waiting room on Rainbow childrens department, then moved to a small treatment room, while we waited to be seen by a consultant.

We were there for over 5 hours, through lunch and dinner times.

We were there for 2 hours before being seen by two consultants a chest ex-ray taken.

The staff were very dismissive, my son was not offered a drink or any food and there are no childrens refreshment facilities on the ward, or if there are, we did not find them, nor were we told of them.

We were left alone and undisturbed in the uncomfortable treatment room, the wait between visits from the consultant were very long, the consultant was hard to understand and noone explained what we were to expect, nor when they would return.

When my son was 'discharged' the consultant explained he would arrange some medication, we waited and waited then eventually went to the ward reception where I found the staff to be offhand, not making eye contact and not explaining what we had to do.

It was a thoroughly awful and frustrating experience, by the end of it my son was exhausted.