I was at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock to visit an in-patient who was in a ward on the 4th floor. Shortly arriving in the ward, I had to leave to go to the toilet as my stoma had started to become quite active. There were no toilets on the ward for visitors. In fact, the only toilets were on the ground floor - which is some distance from the wards. By the time I got to the disabled toilet on the ground floor, I was now in desperate need to attend to my stoma. The disabled toilet is a large decent space, very adequate for people in wheelchairs, or those who require assistance. Unfortunately, in the disabled toilets, in this hospital, the needs of an ostomate have been completely overlooked. There is no shelf for you to lay out everything that you need to hand - fresh pouch, disposal bag, wipes etc. The toilet roll dispenser was extremely awkward to use - when you urgently need toilet paper, the last thing you want to do is to try and find the end of the toilet roll and then only be able to get a couple of squares before it breaks off and then you have to start all over again! There was no seat within the toilet so that if you required to change your underwear you could do so without having to use the toilet pan as a seat. After all of that, how to dispose of your disposal bag. There were 2 bins in the toilet - one clearly labelled for domestic waste and a sanitary bin. Unfortunately the opening of the sanitary bin was very small - obviously not designed to take anything larger than sanitary products. Can I also just mention the actual size of the sink? It's rather on the small side, and prohibits properly washing your hands thoroughly without water spraying everywhere!
I would like Crosshouse Hospital to address the needs of ostomates in all of their premises and within their disabled toilets, and also look at the provision of toilets for visitors to wards.
"Stoma Facilities in Disabled Toilets"
About: Crosshouse Hospital Crosshouse Hospital Kilmarnock KA2 0BE
Posted by LoobyLoo2018 (as ),
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See more responses from Eunice Goodwin
Update posted by LoobyLoo2018 (a service user) 6 years ago
See more responses from Eunice Goodwin