NHS hospitals

How bad are things in the NHS hospitals at the moment, anyone know?

I went for my pre-op and they had no details on the screen about me, just a sheet of paper from the consultant, I said to the nurse "where are my details then?" And she said "I don't know they must be somewhere else" I said "well will they be on the screen when I have my op?" She said "the anaesthatist won't work without them". Then I was supposed to have an appointment booked to see the anaesthatist for a anaesthetic review and no appointment had been booked so I couldn't have one so I'm waiting to hear, if I ever do.

A friend of mine is having an op at the same hospital and she was sent the wrong bits of details. Then she was sent a letter saying she hadn't booked an appointment which she has done already.

Is this normal practice in hospitals at the moment? Just wondering.

it varies some hospitals are worse than others. when i had an operation a couple of years ago i'd told them several times that i'm gluten intolerant so i would need providing with glutn free food whilst i were in hospital. all i were offered for dinner was a salad that looked 2 days old & nothing was cut up even though i'd just had shoulder surgery, were in an immobiliser sling & weren't allowed to move that arm at all for 7 weeks. in the morning their was no breakfast for me, eventually someone found a couple of gluten free biscuits but they were rock hard. for lunch they did actually find me some gluten free soup but no gluten free bread. thankfully i managed to escape after that, if i'd been in long i think they would've starved me! the staff were too busy standing around talking about their christmas party to respond to buzzers. i should have been helped to the toilet whenever i needed to go because i have problems with my legs too & could easily have fallen but i soon had to resort to getting myself into my wheelchair & moving the wheelchair with one foot seen as i'd dislocated other ankle only a few days earlier. i would move the wheelchair like this right down the ward, past the nurses station to the toilet & not once did any nurse at the nurses station ask if i needed a hand! one woman on the ward i were on pressed her buzzer several times but no one came & she wet herself. they then didn't come & clean her up for 1/2 an hour even though someone had come round taking orders for lunch & she had told them so you would've thought they could've gone & got a nurse but apparently not

It's not in my experience tbh. They always have my file although not always the latest scan. I thought my last pre op was a waste of time tbh, all they did was blood pressure and weight. On the day of the op which was a d&c so same as you, I saw both my consultant and the anaestatist before the op and was asked many many questions about my health etc and had I had any problems in the past with anaestetic. I mentioned they apparently had trouble bringing me round the time before and he was very interested, said he'd go heavy on the pain killer and lighter on the anaestetic which worked brilliantly, I was very bright and perky very quickly and was discharged before lunch. My local hospital has lots of issues which keep making the headlines with a&e and maternity especially but I can't fault them with my treatment. Although spending 4 hours in a&e 2 days on the trot with the OH with a suspected heart attack was something else entirely, Thankfully it wasn't a heart attack but we're none the wiser what it was and he had classic symptoms.

I think it depends on the hospital, the manager/staff on shift and the amount of emergencies, the number of spare beds, whether there is a new 'electronic system' in place somewhere in the department and probably lots of other things!

Last year I had horrific care in hospital throughout the birth of my son, I needed surgery after my labour, and the wound and over 100 stitches all fell apart, literally. So 2 weeks later when I got re-admitted to hospital, I was on an emergency list for surgery - it took 2 days before I finally went down to theatre, and was told my 2 week old baby could not visit me (till I demanded a private room off the ward for visiting hours) as I was on a gyney ward as the maternity ward was full ...and so much more....

I do imagine that surgical procedures planned well in advance as is the norm would be more better organised though than my experience?

That sounds awful! What a terrible experience that must have been for you.

The bathrooms on the maternity ward in Warrington Hospital were vile, filthy, bloody, the chair in the shower in there.......omg! I had to wear flip flops, and plastic gloves to shower!!

Sounds like you had a better experience with your hospital stay. I'm glad your OH was okay.

yeah i put a complaint in more because of that poor woman left so long she couldn't hang on any longer then left to sit it in for 1/2 an hour. of course i just got a letter back that made all sort of excuses most of them really lame excuses. if the staff were really busy, if the ward had been understaffed i wouldn't have been so appalled but because on all but one occasion when i needed to go to the toilet the staff were just standing around talking about their upcoming christmas party i were rather annoyed

Sounds like you had a terrible experience, fancy having to wait 2 days before you went down to theatre.

That is disgusting! You poor thing, that must have been awful.