"Ward staff brilliant, surgical recovery staff..."

I attended St Helier to have a fractured limb manipulated for the third time, under general anaesthetic. As it had already partially healed by this time, it was quite a traumatic procedure. The previous time I attended for this, two weeks prior, I couldn't fault my treatment in any way - the ward staff, anaesthetist, doctors and recovery area staff were all absolute stars. This time the ward staff, doctors and anaesthetist were just as wonderful, but the recovery staff were way beyond appalling - rude, neglectful, disinterested and thoroughly unprofessional. I was virtually left alone the whole time I was there, besides brief and intermittent attentions from a brusque and obnoxious nurse, who seemed to think my (quietly expressed) need for pain relief was calculated as a personal annoyance to them. From what I could make out, in my befuddled post-op state, this was not due to pressure of work but on a preferred focus by the two staff members present on discussing their holidays and staff appraisals. As I understand it, patients in surgical recovery are vulnerable and need careful monitoring. No post-operative patient should ever be treated this badly.