"Dehydration - Lack of aftercare."

The care I received at the Hospital was on the one hand exemplary and on the other poor.

The surgical team were exceptional in the way things were explained to me and the actual procedure was conducted with efficiency and professionalism.

However once I was in recovery things began to slide.

Before my scheduled procedure (a heart condition) I was advised to only have a light breakfast and subsequently the last thing I drank was a glass of juice at 7.15 am. I was given some medication after my surgery and took two sips of water with the tablets. This was around 2.30pm (I was rather groggy but I'm sure it was around this time). As part of the recovery I needed to gradually sit upright from a recumbent position. As I was raised up I immediately felt nauseous and broke out into a cold sweat. I was then lowered back to a prone position. Around an hour later another attempt was made to raise me and again I felt light-headed but not as bad as before. I was offered some biscuits and a cup of tea. This was around 5.00pm in the afternoon. (around 8-9 hours after I had anything substantial to drink. My Cardiologist visited me around this time and organised a saline drip and I soon started to feel better. Despite having my blood pressure taken on a regular basis until my Cardiologist saw me I had no idea my blood pressure was low (I believe this is a good indication of being dehydrated.)

Why did no-one ask me "when was the last time you had anything to drink?" I was also offered a sandwich around 5.00pm (the last thing I had eaten was at 7.00am) but never received any food from the Hospital up until I left at around 8.00pm (other than what I fortunately brought into the ward myself). Baring in mind that if I had not been able to walk unaided then I would have had to stay in overnight.

I also heard two patients complain (out of 3 others left on the ward) that they had been given tea with sugar despite them both being diabetic!