"Staff were friendly and professional. Treatment ..."

Thank you for your praise for staff and the standard of treatment. We are not sure what channel you used to contact us directly; your message has not arrived through our own website (the "Contact by email link" is given on the homepage on www.sdhct.nhs.uk), but apologise if it has gone astray. We are always keen to respond promptly. We are very aware that areas of the hospital are in need of modernisation; many have been upgraded over the last few months (new flooring, new lifts, upgraded toilets, improved privacy screening, and the creation of more single rooms) and there have been major schemes to extend Accident and Emergency, expand our Surgical Admissions Unit, replace our MRI scanner, and instal an additional CT scanner. In total, we have spent around ?14 million over the last year on capital schemes to improve our facilities. We are continuing with modernisation as fast as our funding will allow. New signage is already being worked on and maintenance (such as renewed flooring) is being carried out on each ward in turn. Importantly, we have been declared as fully compliant with the national Hygiene Code by two independent inspectorates, despite the challenge of working within hospital buildings which date from the 1920s, 1960s and 1970s.