"Great care, treatment & service, discharge info..."

I have attended the Oaklands over the last 4 years on a number of occasions both as an out patient & for day case surgery. On each occasion from entering reception, the staff have been professional & caring. This time I attended for foot surgery and from admission, was. Seen by the Physio, provided with a boot & crutches, the nursing staff were efficient, I saw the anaesthetist, my surgeon assessed my foot & marked the parts for surgery & I was taken into the anaesthetic room all within 1hr 15 mins of arriving.

The waiting room for theatre was new, bright & airy but freezing cold despite having a heater running.

Returning to consciousness pot op, the nursing team were reassuring & calming & the discharge process proceeded as expected, I went home on crutches after 3 hours - however, giving instructions to patients recovering from a general anaesthetic & expecting them to remember them once they go home is I think expecting too much - written backup should be provided.

I was also prescribed injections into my abdomen for 5 days to prevent blood clots but was not given any instructions on how to do it (as a retired nurse, I knew, but what about the general public)?

As they only had 1 injection I was told they would order more & my husband was to return the following morning to collect them. He returned at 10.30am to be told they hadn't arrived & it would be 4.30pm when he could collect them. He returned at the appointed time to be told they knew nothing about them & they would have to be reordered!

As he had done 2x 25 mile round trips he demanded to see someone about it and suddenly a nurse came to reception with a carrier bag containing 5 x syringes of the treatment.

The injections were not boxed, they did not have my name on them & there were no instructions relating to how to use them which I think is now not allowed?

The above was the only glitch in what otherwise was a very positive experience