"Amber B"

I was admitted to Amber B ward in Queen’s in April after falling from a height in Romford and breaking both my ankles resulting in me having surgery on the left ankle.

Most of the staff were ok and there were a few who were nice and friendly and you could have a laugh and a joke with them.

One of the head nurses could be abrupt if they were busy but when you actually talked to them they were friendly and on my last day they gave me a hug and said I could ring the ward and talk to them if I was unsure about anything.

There were a few things that concerned me though. The most prominent was the issue of other patients in my bay who were elderly and couldn’t feed themselves (usually because they were delirious because they had a UTI) having their food left on their tray and not being fed.

There was one really irritating HCA who would shout and whine at elderly patients, especially one who was delirious and would try and get out of the bed. They would yell “Where you gonna go? You can’t walk”. Really unsympathetic.

Then there was the issue of how some patients required to have one to one care which ment that the health care assistant apparently couldn’t leave them which ment other patients who were unable to care for themselves didn’t always get seen to.

I needed ice to get my swelling down before my op but I didn’t always get it when I asked for it and this resulted in my consultant verbally ripping apart the nurse in charge right in front of me which I thought was not professional or appropriate to do in front of a patient at all.

Also after my op after the physiotherapists got me up I needed two nurses to help me us walking aids but with the level of staffing that was not possible.

Overall I’d say the ward was hit and miss. There were some staff who really went above and beyond and few that looked like they could not be bothered (like the HCA who I clocked on the night shift siting with their hood up fast asleep) and whether you got what you needed depended on who was on duty.

There is a lot that needs to be improved on Amber B but at the same time there are some good people working there who I do miss now I am home.