"THR and recovery in Sarah Ward"

I came home yesterday after a 3 night stay in Sarah Ward following a total Hip Replacement.

I am a younger hip patient (41) and as such was extremely worried about how the stay would be.

I was rather surprised in pre op when two anaesthetists tried to persuade me to have a spinal block. I did start to feel pressurised and uncomfortable. No one had mentioned a spinal at either the clinic or the pre operative hip school. If this is a usual part of treatment I would suggest telling patients about it at an earlier stage in the process.

The Recovery team were excellent and very caring and assiduous with me when I was coming round and in quite a lot of pain. They really were kind and supportive in the extreme. I could not praise their calm, kind professional behaviour more.

I was collected from Recovery by the Sister from Sarah Ward. I had been on the ward as a day patient before and as a visitor and the sister remarkably remembered me.

Once on the ward I always had a named nurse (always written on the board behind my bed). The nursing staff were all professional but kind, especially the Staff Nurse who helped me immensely.

The physio team visited twice a day and pushed me hard to help get me home quickly, OT came once a day but also set challenging goals to get me moving.

Nursing Staff were very hard working but swamped. For example I was in a 6 bedded bay which was usually full. When our nurse had to give a blood transfusion to a very ill lady that meant they were tied up for an hour and 5 of us could not get meds. Equally when they helped me in the shower for 15 minutes that had a knock on on others. I do think that the Trust should reconsider the staffing ratio in what is a higher than usual dependency ward.

There is a fault in the ward heating so that at a cool point Bay C is in the high 20s.

It really is far far far too warm. That must be addressed as battling dehydration does not help surgical recoveries.

A special mention must go to the Sister who did ward rounds on their day off and spoke to us all. They are totally committed to the patients in their care. A wonderful nurse.