"Reflections on surgery with overnight stay"

I'm writing to highlight the journey my husband has had from 1st consultation to surgery and discharge home.

Background - ongoing problems with knee, requiring reconstructive surgery in the past and now requiring more keyhole surgery.

He had his appointment with the Consultant, during which he felt that the surgeon was bored and wasn't interested in the history my husband was giving them. They appeared to have already made up their mind about the treatment they were going to offer, running off a spiel they had said many times before.

The following appointment for a scan of his knee passed with out problem.

The next appointment with the Consultant, again made him feel like he was an inconvenience to the dr, although the dr did agree he needed an operation.

My husband attended his Pre-op assessment as advised by letter. On arrival there was some confusion as to why he was there as the Consultant wasn't in that day, however this was overcome by the arrival of a junior dr who came and clerked in and consented my husband for the op.

On the day of the op, unfortunately the Consultant was off sick and the list had to be hastily revised. My husband was impressed by the fact that the situation was partly resolved by another surgeon, who came from Vale of Leven, to help. Luckily for my husband, he wasn't one of the few that were cancelled.

As his surgery was a little later in the day, he required an overnight stay as (to our understanding) the physio stopped at 4pm. He was left a set of crutches next to the bed, but had not been fitted to him, or shown how to use them safely. When he needed the bathroom, he hobbled on his own using hospital furniture for support. I didn't think this would be very safe, luckily he didn't fall.

At breakfast the next day, he asked for toast, but was told that they didn't do toast, which struck me as a bit odd, toast is a breakfast staple!

The person who took the order for lunch stood at the bottom of another persons bed and shouted across at my husband 'and you? '.

At lunch there was confusion as to who was meant to be servicing his particular room as the housekeeper/domestics had a row about which room belongs to which person. An patient who was almost both blind and deaf had been given soup by one person, only to have the other person take it away, all the while a third person (who my husband describes as 'very interested in everyone's business'), was busy telling this patient that if he had his soup he would get home. This upset the patient as the nurses then told him he would be staying for 2 weeks!

I don't want to make formal complaints, I understand what it's like to work in a busy environment, but maybe this could highlight the need for -

1. better consultant attitudes - they may be bored but the patients are nervous and concerned.

2. better communication - make sure the pre-op appts given out coincide with the lists in the assessment area.

3. Better post-op mobility advice, or even give the patient the buzzer!

4. Toast for breakfast?

5. Staff to approach each patient with a smile, introduce themselves and ask, nicely, what their choices are for lunch.

6. If the staff need to argue, do it away from the patients.

There were good things too - the members of staff who stepped in to help when no-one was available (junior dr at clerk in and surg from VoL)

Thanks for reading!