"Most of the staff were fairly ..."

What I liked

Most of the staff were fairly attentive especially at night and especially straight after my operation.

What could be improved

Co-ordination between departments needs to be improved asap as I was laid waiting on a hospital trolley for over 45 mins waiting to be collected following a CAT scan. Afterwards it was noted by the nurse who finally came to get me that, what was the third time the CAT scan staff had called up to say I was ready, was in fact the 'first' time my ward had been contacted, so something went wrong somewhere.....to make matters worse for the whole of the 45 mins, I was desperate for the toilet and unable to get up due to my recent operation.

Also on the day I left, I was waiting over 2.5 hours after I was authorised to leave for medication to take home with me (medication I had asked for on several occasions over the previous 2 days) but by the time the Pharmacy had sent up the medication, the complaint I needed it for had got to a near unbearable level and the most essential part of the medication had been forgotten by them so I had to leave hospital without it and search for a Pharmacy that stocked the medication over the counter on my way home instead of getting home to rest.

Anything else?

A few nurses seemed unhelpful and I had to repeat my reasonable request four or five times before anything was done. I believe on one occasion the rota had not been set up properly leading to a shortage of staff on duty.

I had had a good experience of hospital food at another major Sheffield hospital so was hoping for the same standards from the Northern General. Infact I was dissapointed by the standards of catering as the food was simple to make food and all I can think is it must have taken great effort to foul up even the simplest dishes.....stretchy mashed 'potato' that is bereft of even a hint of potato flavour left me speechless and very hungry! Carrot cake minus the icing and with the density to kill a man if thrown correctly is again not what I expected from hospital food in this day and age!