"Ward 2 Airedale Hospital - NHS at it's best!"

My (adult) daughter was admitted onto Ward 2 (bed 43) and stayed for 36 hours.

It was clear on arrival that the ward was full and the staff very busy.

From the minute we arrived to the minute we left Jennifer ( with anxious Mum in tow) was treated with unfailing kindness, compassion and unfailing professionalism.

Tucked away in a single room ( which was spotless) she could have been easily overlooked but no, her door was knocked upon regularly with staff checking in on her. Given just how busy the ward was I’d anticipated rather a wait to be seen but immediately upon arrival Jenny was seen and attended to by two nurses who were brilliant.

Closely followed by a junior doctor and then by a doctor who again was so kind and took the time to explain their diagnosis and care plan, the doctor was very reassuring.

We could hear how busy the ward was outside the room but no one gave us the sense of being rushed or under pressure.

This amazing care continued throughout

Jenny’s stay on the ward.

Every single member of staff from the lovely staff who provided wonderful cups of tea, the ‘dinner staff’ the student nurse who encouraged Jenny to try and drink and provided the first ‘cuppa’ to bribe her. The night staff especially one with their sense of humour and everybody else.

What an amazing team!

I would also like to mention the doctor who gave us the most detailed but simplified possible explanation of Jenny’s Arrhythmia.

I learnt more in the time they spent with us than I have in the preceding 12 years of Jenny’s heart ‘issues’.

The doctors compassion when Jenny burst into tears and the reassurances they gave her was medicine at its best.

I could hear through the closed door how members of staff talked to other patients, there seemed to be a couple of elderly patients who were perhaps a little confused.

The polite, respectful and gently humorous tones they used to coax the ‘wanderers’ back to bed was heart-warming.

People seem all to ready to knock the NHS and I know in these days of budget cuts it is hard to provide the service we’d all like to receive.

However

Ward 2 was indeed the NHS at its best.