"Very impressed with my stay in hospital."

I have just had an unexpected three night stay on G1. This is my first stay in hospital and I have found the overall experience to be a positive one.

Without exception the contact I had with every member of staff, from reception in A and E, through all the medical team in both A and E and Oncology and the support staff on the ward was both friendly and professional.

There has been a lot of negative publicity in the press recently surrounding waiting times and overcrowding but I saw none of this on this visit. Clearly everyone is busy, but they all had time when dealing with me to make me feel that I was important to them, which I found reassuring.

As a catering manager in my work life I want to mention the food service at the hospital. It must be a very complex operation to cook and deliver meals to a busy hospital like WSH. I would like to congratulate the catering team. The food I received was firstly accurate to what I had ordered. It was hot, well presented and tasty. As I was being kept in isolation it was actually the high point of the day and something to look forward to. Thank you.

To keep this review balanced, there was just one area that needed attention and that was the heating and hot water in the ward. There was no heating on Saturday night and my room was cold. I was given a portable heater on Sunday which helped, but the water was only lukewarm in the shower. This situation had still not been resolved by Tuesday lunchtime when I was discharged. I can only assume there must have been a major problem for this to carry on for so long.

Overall my thanks to everyone at the West Suffolk Hospital.