"Very impressed with overall levels of care and..."

What I liked

I was an inpatient for 9 days, firstly on the acute cardiac ward and then on Mercury Ward. I was very happy with all aspects of the ward and very pleased with the way I was treated by all staff. Everything that was happening was explained fully, with plenty of time to ask for further information. My admission was smooth and relatively quick, arriving by ambulance and being admitted to the first ward within 2/3 hours.

What could be improved

A huge problem for me was the time it took for porters to arrive to transport me for tests. Afterwards on each occasion I had to wait, feeling very uncomfortable in a wheelchair, for a porter to come to take me back to the ward - the admin staff did intervene when I was able to get their attention to ring the porters again and ask for someone but I felt very vulnerable. When I was taken to the waiting area for the tests I was left, amongst rows of people in the outpatient area where the tests were taking place, in my dressing gown. On one occasion I was 'put' facing the wrong way against a wall so I could not alert anyone to make sure they knew I was there - I had to ask someone else who was passing to get the receptionist to come and see me - she was very understanding and put a further call in for the porter service. I do appreciate that people are very busy but the standards of care and treatment on the wards are let down by this sort of problem. I could understand if this had happened just once but it happened on 3 occasions!

Anything else?

I feel the Doctors and nurses do an amazing job. It was clear that the staff on Mercury Ward were very stretched but they did not allow this to affect the standards of service to the patients. It is the first time I have been in hospital for some years and I was really surprised at the improvements