"Overnight stay in McCulloch Ward 3.6.14"

Arrived on ward around 8.45pm following lengthy stay in recovery (waiting for bed on ward) after urological surgery. Nurses on duty excellent on changeover, nurses on night duty were also excellent, there was nothing that you couldn't ask for and they made it quite clear that if there was anything you needed that you were to ask. They had empathy with patients of all ages, they were kind, patient, caring and understanding. Following morning after changeover, I found the ward to be chaotic although there seemed to be quite a number of staff on duty. There were patients wandering around constantly with drips and catheters attached, staff rushing from ward to ward, the patient call buzzer was a constant noise and one young doctor was just wandering around most of the time with a clipboard in her hand and didn't seem to be doing much at all. I was told I would be discharged that day and had catheter removed at 10am and canular removed around 11am, intermittently I was asked by different nursing staff if I had had certain tests which made me feel that there was a lack of communication between them. I noted that there was a matron on duty but could not distinguish her from the rest of the nursing staff, certainly she did not make her present felt and as I had stayed on this ward 2 years ago I did not think that there was any difference in the way that the ward was run from then. I then waited until 3pm to be told that I would need to contact my partner who was picking me up and then had to wait a further half an hour for the discharge paperwork. I feel that the whole discharge process lets this ward down and also has a knock on effect with patients waiting to be admitted. I also feel that the nursing staff are very rushed during the day and the admin clerk on the reception desk is very rude and unhelpful and spent most of her time moaning about her job. I appreciate that this ward is very busy but I do feel that it needs to be examined more and changes should inevitably be made to improve the care.