"The staff of Ward 17 were so kind ..."

What I liked

The staff of Ward 17 were so kind and helpful to me. I was in isolation and had to ring the bell if I needed anything and it was never too much trouble for them to come to my room.

The food was perfectly acceptable, in fact I ate everything I had selected from the menu.

What could be improved

The A&E admittance was distressing. I am a chemotherapy patient with Good Hope and although I have a card from the oncology dept to present at A&E the reception staff had never seen one and didn't know the process involved. There were 6 people in front of me, and although in a huge amount of pain and passing blood I was told I would have to wait the same as another patient who had decided to use A&E instead of visiting their GP or the drunk from the local town.

From arriving in A&E to getting to the ward it took 8 hours.

Anything else?

The reception/admittance procedure needs to be changed, if I'd called for an ambulance I wouldn't have to have waited and be told I was in a queue and there were 6 before me. However, unlike so many people I arranged transport and got to hospital under my own steam.

Car parking charges - my family were spending so much money visiting, even with a 3 day pass it worked out very expensive. As I said I am a chemotherapy patient and therefore a regular at hospital, these car park charges and the lack of spaces only add to the stress. Surely, cancer patients should be exempt? I am only a few months into treatment and with at least 5 months to go, it is very costly.