"Performance of ward14 was no where near..."

What I liked

I spent about 5 days, quite ill, on ward 33.

The medical staff, qualified nurses, health care assistants and domestic staff were in general very good, both in technical aspects and in patient care. There were two or three exceptions. They were not "very good", they were excellent! (I would love to be able to name them)

Overall, I was very impresed with the way in which I and other patients (and visitors) were treated, despite a very full ward which was placing big demands on staff at the time.

Even the food was surprisingly good, especially the green salads.

What could be improved

I was originally admitted to ward 14 as an emergency with a high fever following a prostate biopsy caried out at a different hospital. I was admitted about 3am and given inravenous paracetemol to reduce the fever. I did not see a doctor until after 6am. I was at some stage,I beleive, written up for antibiotic injections, but this was later deleted from the notes and I never received any. By late morning, the fever had subsided and I was discharged with a supply of antibiotics, the same as I had been given following the biopsy. Blood samples were taken about 6am. By mid afternoon, my wife had to call our GP out and the result was another trip in an ambulance, this time to ward 33 where I was found to have a serious infection and was retaining urine. I do feel that staaff on ward 14 did nor pay sufficient attention to evaluating my symptoms, especially as I have since found out that this type of infection is a well known after effect of prostate biopsy, and had they bothered to liaise with the urology dept they would have known this and I might not have been discharged. This premature discharge not only caused me and my family considerable extra distress, it delayed my getting the proper treatment and involved the NHS in the extra expense of calling out my GP and providing an emergency ambulance.