"I feel I was fortunate to have been treated at..."

What I liked

I was in this hospital for a mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction. I had a very long operation (8/9 hours) and spent 4 days in the high dependency unit and one day on the ward before discharge. Of all the staff I encountered during my stay there was only one nurse whom I could criticise. The rest of the staff, from the consultant to the health care assistants, were extremely kind, understanding, efficient and competent. I felt that I was very well looked after during my stay and their treatment of me gave me confidence after what was a traumatic and uncomfortable operation. I was kept well informed about my treatment and every medical need was met promptly and efficiently. I would use this hospital again and would not hesitate to recommend it to others. I am very pleased with the outcome of my surgery.

What could be improved

One of the nursing staff was rather surly and thoughtless, but was only one out of many people involved in my treatment.

The food was not very nice. The choices were not tempting, the quality was very average, it was not very hot by the time it reached me and I found it hard to eat when patients nearby were using bed pans etc. This was unavoidable where it was necessary to eat on the ward but a separate dining room would have been more pleasant when I was well enough to get out of bed and use it. Having said that this is a very big hospital and catering for large numbers of patients must make it hard to provide decent meals.

Anything else?

I would particularly like to praise my consultant and the team of plastic surgeons for the standard of their work and the two staff nurses on Ward 7 North who were exceptionally patient, understanding and skilful.