"Disappointing discharge at 11pm"

What I liked

Everyone was very kind

The surgeon came to speak to me to let me know how the operation went.

What could be improved

I waited 7 hours until I was called for surgery.

The whole discharge could have been improved. There was no aftercare information so I had to ask about exercise, woundcare and bathing on the way out at the nurse's station. My husband had to point out that I had 2 cannulas in place, and they were about to let me walk out!

I had a gynae operation and no sanitary towels were offered. Luckily I had packed some, but I hadn't thought of it on the way to the toilet - with predictable messy results on the floor - I'm glad I made it to the toilet floor rather than making an embrassing mess on the ward floor.

The hand over to night staff wasn't good. I had to inform that I was due to be discharged same day - all nurses seemed quite surprised, but the surgeon and anaethetist were quite clear with me. One nurse said we had to decide what 'we' were doing, because visiting hours had ended an hour and a half earlier, so we had to say we were waiting to see if I was going to be discharged!

My husband was left waiting on the ward for 2 hours with no updates while I was in recovery and was not told I'd gone into theatre late. As far as he was aware, there was a 3 hour delay where no one was telling him how I was and he was worried. Why was he not advised to go for a drink or a walk?

I was 2 hours back on the ward until any food appeared. Could that not have been ordered immediately for when I was ready? This delayed my discharge and appears to be due to the change over of staff. The first set of nurses were clear about what to expect and when I would go home. I didn't think it was possible to get a bread roll wrong. It was practically inedible it was so hard and dry, and still had 3 days date on it! I managed 20% at most.

4 days post surgery and I still feel very tired. My ankles have started to swell and I have no idea if I should be doing more or less than I am. All because the advice was not there at discharge.

Anything else?

Does single sex accommodation count in the recovery room? Because it wasn't...