"All the good work undone"

My wife was recently admitted to the Great Western with a suspected heart attack.

The treatment she received was superb with all the staff knowing exactly what they were doing and showing kindness and patience despite being so busy.

The treatment she received in the Acute Cardiac Unit was beyond praise and so we were left with an impression of a highly professional and organised hospital where everyone knew their job and a system in place which worked like clock work.

UNTIL she was discharged.

She went to the Discharge Lounge, a rather tatty small room, and was told to wait for her drugs.

One very elderly lady (86) had been there since 10.30 and was eventually supplied at 2.30, a very distressing experience for someone who had had two stents inserted and wanted nothing more than to go home to her own bed.

My wife waited from 13.30 until 15.00 when we were told by the nurse in charge that her drugs would not be ready until 16.15 at the earliest and that the lounge closed at 16.30, which meant that anyone not supplied would have to go back to their wards for their supply.

We opted to go home and I returned to the ACU later to collect her drugs.

Everyone we spoke to at the hospital knew that there would be a long wait to get the drugs.

A satirist would have great fun with the fact that on the table in the lounge amongst the magazines there are three paperback books, including Paradise Lost, obviously the staff expect people to be able to complete then whilst waiting.

How can such a good hospital as yours be so incompetent when it comes to patients who have gone through a very traumatic time are leaving and are at their lowest ebb?

Surely it is not beyond the wit of man to fix the system.

I appreciate that the pharmacy is a very busy place and that they have to be accurate and check everything, but if they can't handle the work load then get in someone who can.

Your fine hospital is completely let down by this final piece of organisation.