"My recent operation for removal of wire from my little finger, following fusion on it in June this year."

In June this year I had an operation in Crawley hospital and to be honest was not looking forward to it following so much adverse publicity with regard to both Crawley and particularly East Surrey hospital, however the staff were extremely nice, very courteous and respectful and the whole thing ran very smoothly. They were fantastic!

This week I had to go back into hospital and have the wire removed from my finger and had to go to East Surrey hospital. I was very apprehensive about it but I cannot praise them enough, the nurse who saw me initially, Elizabeth, was cheerful and efficient. Mr Bhat is charming and also has a sense of humour! The Anaesthetist was so nice, reassuring, patient, delightful! The operation over I went into recovery and was kept warm and comfortable, the man, sorry can't remember his name, who looked after me was attentive and kind, superb! Then I moved into the final ward before going home. I was looked after by Fiona, she was so helpful & pleasant, very efficient and so busy, she never seemed to stop for breath, nothing was too much trouble, the place ran like clockwork. The ward was spotless and beds, mattresses etc were cleaned so thoroughly, it was fascinating! The staff interacted so well with each other whether bringing in patients or working in other areas of the ward I felt comfortable and at ease, I was happily reading my magazine when my husband came to collect me.

Two issues arose which could be easily sorted, firstly the nurse who met the patients and advised what would happen, ie see nurse, up to theatre, recovery etc was insistent that patients must leave their bags in the waiting room when going up to theatre. This was a bit disturbing as most people had just one bag and everything, including mobile phones etc, would have to stay there, in practise however this did not happen, quite the opposite, personal items were labelled carefully and taken up to theatre where they were then removed to the recovery room. I am certain that the nurse said the bags must be left in the waiting room as I asked her to repeat what she had said to me again personally. Secondly, when my husband was rung to collect me he asked if there was an area to park for a few minutes for collecting patients, he was told no he would have to park in the car park. Not satisfied that this made sense he rang the switchboard and after being passed from person to person who were far from helpful he gave up and parked in the main car park. When we were coming out of the hospital and went to the pay machine, I said to my husband what a con! making you pay £2 for a few minutes, whereupon a man, don't know who he was, sitting at a desk to the side of the machine said have you only been a few minutes in the hospital? my husband explained he had come to collect me, then this very kind and well informed man said "Oh you don't have to pay for just a few minutes", we couldn't believe it, seemingly if you are less than 20 minutes there is no fee, you have, he said, 5 minutes to get to your car and out of the car park. Now £2 won't break the bank but I can tell you that my husband and I came out from there thinking that common sense was being used - now that is really good news! Why don't the administration staff/ receptionists pass this information on to patients prior to and after surgery, it seems to be a well-kept secret! What a shame, it is a big plus, it's not the value it's the thought! Happy Xmas to you all!