"I liked very little. I have attended ..."

What I liked

I liked very little. I have attended the outpatient department upstairs in Ripon Hospital a few times in the last 2 years. I have to say that the nursing staff left a lot to be desired. The nurses that bark your names out to call you really do need to be taught that a smile, and to be polite and friendly, (with perhaps a please and thank you) to anxious patients in the waiting area, will go a long way to making their visit as pleasant as possible. On all the occasions I have used this hospital for appointments, never have I seen the patients who were waiting to see a consultant treated with any kind of respect or in a friendly manner. I prefer to use Ripon as it is easier as I live here but due to an unsatisfying appointment yesterday I will be seeing the consultant that I wish to see at Harrogate in future. This is because the General Surgery consultants that we have known and trusted are no longer covering Ripon and we are being given locum after locum to cover and I am not satifised with the diagnosis.

What could be improved

The nursing staff who call out your name could give the elderly and infirm, or indeed anyone, time to get to their feet before rushing off along the corridor and leaving the patient wondering where they have gone. Calling out the patients name with a smile and the word 'please' attached would be a vast improvement on the extremely brusque manner in which it is currently done. I was appalled and disgusted yet again yesterday, nothing has changed since I was last there.

Anything else?

A few nicer pictures and magazines or books in the waiting area would be a huge improvement along with piped music. If the doctors surgeries can do it why can't the hospital? I sat there for an hour and a half yesterday with a few others, on grubby chairs, in silence, with nothing to read. It was like being in a third world country! No feedback from the staff as to why we had been kept waiting for so long was forthcoming until someone complained - it turned out that locum had arrived late for surgery. Disgraceful.