"Awaiting day surgery at QE Hospital"

Having been referred to the Queen Elizabeth in Gateshead by my GP for day surgery, I was very pleased that I was going to be seen by the top surgeon and I received an appointment within 3 weeks of being referred.

On the day of the appointment at QE to see the surgeon, the whole process was rushed as he was running late. As a result things were not explained clearly and a day was booked for the operation to take place.

The pre-assesment clinic was carried out by a surly nurse who did not like the fact my wife wished to accompany me into the examination room, as is my right.

She was unable to answer the few questions I had and requested the doctor contact me himself. He did not.

Today I phoned his secretary and was told he did not call back because he had explained everything clearly when I saw him. Clearly he did not, otherwise I would not have been asking for clarification.

I was also told that physiotheraphy would either have to be dealt with privately by myself, which the surgeon himself suggested, or arranged by my own doctor. I told the secretary the same as I told the doctor, that private physiotherapy was out of the question on the grounds of cost.

My own GP called me later in the day and said it is usual for the hospital themselves to arrange Post-Op physiotherapy as they have quicker access. Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right is doing.

I have to say I shall be calling the surgeon's secretary tomorrow and will not be too friendly when i do. It's hard enough preparing for an op without inefficient hospitals causing problems.

I hope the Op is more efficiently carried out that the pre-op procedures have been so far - the whole thing seems a shambles.

I have had dealings with the Freeman hospital in Newcastle and they have been brilliant. The Queen Elizabeth in Gateshead seems a joke. I wouldn't recommend them and will tell my GP I do not wish to be referred to that hospital again in the future.