"Good care on Ward A1, with one concern"

I have just stayed for seven nights on ward A1 with my niece who was being treated for aspiration pneumonia. The staff on this ward were very efficient, supportive and attentive towards her.

Coming into hospital can be a very scary and anxious time for my niece because she has severe learning difficulties and autism, the staff were mindful to make reasonable adjustments with her care and so in turn she felt safe and relaxed. Under the supervision of the nursing team she has made a superb recovery and is now home and healthy.

My one niggle was that the majority of the night staff in our bay were bank staff. Some were very good but some were in my opinion not up to scratch.

I observed one bank staff nurse who did nothing to support patient care and who was more interested in their mobile phone, and I found them sleeping.

Now I'm not a nurse but surely their time and energy would have been better spent walking around the bay checking the more vulnerable, less verbal patients were ok, and doing jobs like writing up notes and tidying around or getting things ready for the morning. I must stress this was not the case with the regular staff on the ward, they were a credit to the hospital.

If there is something I think you could do better it would be to accommodate carers better by providing a recliner chair for sleeping in, like the Tree House do for parents who stay overnight. Seven nights sleeping in a hard hospital chair was not good!

Special thanks to Doctor Sagg who took good care of my niece's illness and to Jane (nurse) who went out of her way to support and help us.