"The nurses and HCA's were ..."

What I liked

The nurses and HCA's were attentive, caring and kind. They did an amzing job in what can sometimes be very stressful circumstances. I applaud their work. The Doctors in A and E were very thorough and i felt that they were actually listening to me, which was a first.

What could be improved

i had consulted my doctor about my illness 3 times, each time told 'if you get any worse come back'. Each occasion i was worse, but i could never see or speak to the doctor i had originally seen which made it very difficult. The worse thing about it all was when i had to contact out of hours at 3am on a sunday morning in agony, told the doctor what was going on and she merely rubbished it and told me it was normal (all done over the phone), i'd love to get in touch with her and tell her that not even 48 hours later i was having emergency surgery!! she made me feel like i was wasting their time and being over dramatic, when infact i was quite poorly. Thank goodness for the out of hours doctor that NHS direct got in touch with who did take me seriously and sent me to A and E.

Anything else?

I found the communication between consultants and patients a real problem. After my surgery i didn't even know what they had done, until i asked the next day. I also didn't get any briefing of how i should expect to feel and how long for. I felt i had to ask for information which should have been given to me. Luckily i'm not afraid to ask, i can see other people who aren't so confident sitting, worrying and fretting which is unnecessary and could be easily fixed if communication was better. However the consultant and surgeon who dealt with me pre op were kind and caring. The surgeon even came and introduced himself whilst i was waiting to be put to sleep and they really put me at ease.