"Liverpool Royal - Orthopaedic treatment"

I broke my ankle quite badly and subsequently attended A&E and had surgery both as an in-patient and an out-patient.

What was good?

Overall, the staff were caring. In my opinion I received a high standard of treatment, especially in surgery, recovery and physiotherapy. I was anxious about aspects of treatment (I had never been to hospital before, never had surgery) but staff reassured me and gave me confidence in what was being done. Also, as a 29 year-old and being fit and healthy, apart from my injury, the staff allowed me as much independence as they could and were very accommodating.

What could have been better?

Some parts of the hospital are very run-down, which with the new building planned will soon not be a problem, but at the moment makes some of the wards feel grubby and an unpleasant environment to be in. Also, my bed had no overhead lamp so when it was lights-out I was left sitting in the dark as I couldn't sleep.

In addition, and perhaps my biggest issue with my treatment, was while I was an in-patient and spent two nights in the hospital, I was privy to some conversations I felt should have been private. With every new shift beginning, staff complained about the previous shift while going about their work on the ward. Every team appeared to feel the other team were lazier and had not done everything they should have. I appreciate that at work we do have issues with colleagues and my personal feeling was that there were not enough staff present to deal with the demands of all the patients on the ward anyway. However, I thought having these conversations over patients was unprofessional and created a slightly negative atmosphere. Some staff members also discussed their hangovers from last night which I felt was worrying to say the least.