"Cost cutting at patient expense?"

A301 Day Stay Unit at Broomfield Hospital.

When you receive the letter to go into hospital it says something on the lines of 'please telephone to say you will be attending or your 'BED' will be allocated to someone else'. WHAT BED? I ended up with an arm chair before my procedure and laid on a hard uncomfortable trolley in a side cubicle to recover for hours afterwards.

Of course, I can see why they do it. It cuts down costs, but to me at the expense of the patients comfort.

I was on this day stay ward again recently and I can tell you, it's no fun having to lay on one of those trolleys for 3-4 hours, especially when you are already feeling uncomfortable and in pain from your operation. Unfortunately it seems like something that is being rolled out in the other day stay ward/s.

So if anyone from Broomfield hospital reads this, please, bring back the beds, for the sake of other patients. It can be a traumatic enough experience going into hospital for anyone, so why not try and make it less stressful and a more comfortable experience by providing something we are all familiar with....a proper BED.

After all, It's supposed to be a hospital not what in my opinion currently resembles a factory conveyor belt system. And to be honest and going by your last CQC report of the hospital I don't know how you get away with it.

I also don't think it looks professional having staff chewing gum on the ward either, which was noticeable with some of the staff.