"TAH - Admission to Devonshire Ward"

A friend of mine was admitted to Devonshire Ward after a similar operation 2 years ago and her experience was the opposite of mine (she couldn't fault it).

How things have changed.

I was on the ward for four days and could not eat any food but nobody seemed to monitor this.

I was not shown how to operate the bed, the call button or spoken to about any facilities on the ward.

I had to wait quite a long time for response to my call bell for requests for painkillers and one night it was a 2 hour wait.

A lady next to me had to wait so long to a response to her request for a bed ban, it was too late.

No sympathy given.

No assistance with getting to and from the toilet.

I did ask for assistance on my first attempt out of bed and the nurse pulled at both my legs upon which I was in agony, they then decided to ask "what operation have you actually had", they truly had no idea what operation I had gone through.

The nurses that I requested painkillers from always asked when I had my last painkillers, this was a little difficult to answer at times and surely they would have a record of this! With the exception of 2 nurses (cannot name unfortunately) all other nurses showed no compassion, no interest and did not have sufficient knowledge.

One particular nurse did not even speak English at all and informing them I was going to be sick looked at me blank.

I needed the curtain to be shut to protect my dignity on returning from the loo and they didn't understand my request, another patience's husband has to assist.

Nobody looked at my dressing until my discharge of the fourth day.

I had no information about aftercare, exercises, caring of my incision etc.

My overall experience in Devonshire Ward was that I was just an inconvenience and I was far from demanding.