"Efficient, clean hospital with lovely staff"

What I liked

I was admitted for a hip arthroscopy last week and was very satisfied with almost the entire experience. The staff were lovely, friendly, and professional. Everyone who cared for me was really nice, including the anaesthetic staff, the housekeeper and the physio lady.

I also had a couple of visits to the pre-op clinic, 1 in January and 1 in May. Again all the staff I met were great, nothing was too much trouble and I was very reassured after the staff contacted the pain team nurse to come and speak to me.

Car parking was easy, the food was lovely and even a problem with follow up physio was sorted by a very helpful lady over the phone.

Thank you very much for doing so well!

What could be improved

The only downside of the whole experience was that I had to wait a long time to go to theatre, I don't understand why I had to be at the hospital at 8am and didn't go to theatre until 2.30pm. By which time I had a blazing headache from not being allowed to drink. I thought the latest research allowed patients to drink clear fluids much closer to their surgery than I was allowed?

It also seemed very strange that a procedure like mine was left so late in the day when all the short procedures were done earlier and then sent home before I had even gone to theatre! I ended up having to stay overnight due to the lateness of my surgery, which meant I took a bed that was meant for an admission the next morning. This admission was actually admitted into the treatment room on the ward as I was still in her bed when she arrived! With beds at a premium, surely a little forward planning could have avoided this and the inevitable inconvenience and disruption for the ward staff and patients?