"All the staff including the consultant ..."

What I liked

All the staff including the consultant surgeon made time to chat when I needed to. When I became down they were kind & supportive, trying to get me to smile or just give me a hug.

They were cheerful & always had a pleasant comment or a smile, very approachable & on hand to help when walking or even getting out of bed was painful or difficult.

So fed up with hearing people moaning about ESH, they do the best they can probably with little reward. The least we can all do is to thank them & support them back. To be miserable, complaining & difficult is just NOT fair, infact some patients were down right rude.

Brockham ward was brilliant, from the highest qualified to the youngsters who made the tea at weekends they were lovely.

What could be improved

Some of the night staff were very reluctant to hand out painkillers even though they had been described. Paracetamol seemed to be in constant supply but as these are more like smarties after a morphine drip they weren't sufficient. I did have to talk to the Registrar on her morning round & it was rectified.

To make the ward more secure late at night. We had men wlking in to visit their partners at all times & bringing food - chinese sweet & sour, curry etc. Apart from the inconvenience of disturbing the ladies the smell was pretty nauseating for some patients. Some elderly ladies were very unsettled & embarrassed, not covered up as they would have liked. Fortunately some night staff were pretty quick to evict them but prevention would have been better.

Anything else?

I did find some of the staff with very strong foreign accents rather difficult to understand. Sadly when you are are stressed & in pain this is very difficult to cope with.

Won't be worried about staying in there again, thank you.