"Recent stay: Adult Day Bed Unit, Recovery,..."

I had a scheduled operation on 7th October, admitted via ADBU.

My experience of this Unit was pretty good, particularly from the very sympathetic and kind nurse who picked up how apprehensive I was, and the thorough and compassionate pre-op assessment by the consultant and anaesthetist.

Another friendly nurse took me to the theatre.

The staff in the theatre were excellent in terms of their compassion and understanding: I have suffered PTSD from being over-medicated in a different hospital and this has made me very afraid and anxious.

There was a problem getting a cannula into one hand and pointedly, one of the theatre staff kept me chatting about a recent holiday to try and help things.

They also asked other theatre staff to step back and wait until I was calmer.

There was also a humorous, chatty member of staff present too.

The care I had in Recovery was superb.

I wasn't left in pain, I was treated with great respect and dignity, and one particularly was so empathic and used humour appropriately.

This helped me not to panic about the high level of pain and feeling that I was in such good hands positively impacted on my recovery.

I was visited by a few doctors in the 16 or so hours that I was in Recovery, all kind and doing their very best to get on top of the intense pain I was in.

The staff also took good care of my husband while I was there - especially important as he suffers from Parkinson's Disease and consequent high levels of anxiety.

There was concern about my very low blood pressure and this was explained to me, as was the increasingly strong pain relief I had to have.

I had to be admitted to Hopkins Ward and was glad of this as I had a previous very good experience there after the first, unplanned surgery 6 weeks earlier.

Again, all the staff were excellent in their level of professionalism, compassion and care.

The Charge Nurse was friendly, professional and really helpful and caring.

I am impressed that, even under pressure, all staff related well to each other and very well to me.

All of this is helping me deal with the PTSD in relation to hospitals and medics - something that I thought I would never come to terms with.

Thank you!