"I was admitted from my GP to ward 20 on..."

What I liked

I was admitted from my GP to ward 20 on Tuesday 21st of September 2010 at 2pm, on arriving at the ward I was put in a cubicle and seen very quickly by doctors and nurses. On deciding I had an appendicitus I was moved into a bed at operated on at 10pm that evening. The nurses and doctors were all very friendly and I was talked through what was going to happen during my operation. I was moved to the breast care unit ward the next evening as my bed was needed, but I was still treated well here and sent home on Thursday 22nd of September. However that evening I became very unwell and was re-admitted to ward 20 where I was looked after until Saturday morning when I was moved to Ward 12. I was well looked after in both wards and ward 12 in particular was very clean and the bathrooms were always avaliable during visiting times for a bath.

What could be improved

As I am only 17 years old my parents were intially told they could stay with me all day then go home about 9pm and return about 8pm in the morning as I was under 18 and in a lot of distress, however on Saturday morning my father was told he would have to leave as i was over 16 I was only allowed to be visited during visiting hours. I found this upsetting as the visiting times were not until 2pm and i was awake from 6am so had to get through 8 hours without anybody there. On coming out of hospital we found out from somebody who worked there that I should have been offered to go onto a children's ward (which i was not) and my parents were entilted to stay at all times. I do not believe this is the nurses fault just simply a lack of communcation and following guidelines. Linked to communcation was the fact that my parents never saw the doctor I saw during doctors rounds, so my dad requested for the doctor to come visit them during visiting hours. However the doctor did not turn up as they had not been told my parents wanted to see them and when the doctor did arrive it was a doctor I had not seen during my whole stay as the doctor had been on holiday for the weekend!

Anything else?

In general i was very happy during the 9 days i was at the hospital and felt i could talk to the nurses when i needed to and that i was being cared for. I just believe the lack of communication let the hospital down rather.