"The nurses were very caring and ..."

What I liked

The nurses were very caring and polite. The student nurses were excellent The choice of food was good. The consultants were very clear in sharing their information.

What could be improved

The sharing of information between staff especially when the staff changed would have been appreciated. I often heard the excuse, sorry i've just come on duty, i don't know.

On one occasion the domestic had failed their inspection and boy did we know it. They clashed and banged and was swearing under their breath. They apparently had failed on the cleanliness of the bed and handbasin. The domestic cleaned them again, called their union rep, and then returned with them and the inspector and asked them to show them where!!!! The rep was very discreet and tried to talk to them outside the ward they were loud and when the rep pointed out the problems the domestic cleaned them with lots of cursing and noise. A patient was asked by the domestic to move the chair she was sitting in, she had been very ill in HDU 3 days earlier her vistors could not sit down as they had the bed pulled out and they took along time removing a cover from the base of the bed cleaning it and replacing it. The domestic's bucket and cloths were in the middle of the floor. The days are long in hospital and visiting time is precious. I appreciate they have a job to do, however on their day off we never noticed another domestic doing the same job, who was quiet and discreet.

Anything else?

The number of qualified staff is limited it would have been more reassuring to see more of them rather than students who had been on the ward for only 5 weeks taking and recording B.P. obs etc.