"Caring staff in day surgery"

I attended as a day case for throat surgery at Knapp ward recently. I was greeted warmly by the receptionist on the ward and shown to a chair in B section of the ward.

The nursing staff checking me in were kind and informative about what would happen regarding my surgery, especially Kate the pre-op nurse who kept me updated with how long I would wait before I was taken down to theatre. I also saw the surgeon (Joel) and anaesthetist pre-op who were kind and caring and answered all my questions.

I was taken down to theatre by Claudia who prepared me pre-op. She was reassuring and helped me to stay calm having the anaesthetic pre surgery.

After returning to the ward I was cared for by another Kate who helped me prepare for discharge home. She was very caring and informed me about post operative wound care at home. Please pass on my thanks to the two nurses called Kate and theatre nurse Claudia.

The whole experience was much better than expected although there were a couple of things that I would like to point out.

During the morning when I was waiting on the ward, there were some nurses when not occupied with patients who just stood at the entrance to the ward chatting loudly. I thought that this was a bit inconsiderate to the patients who were recovering after surgery and wanting some quiet to rest.

Also, I was told that because it was a Saturday then some nurses were cleaning the surfaces of trolleys and worktops. I was doubtful that the rules of infection control were being followed by the way that the same cloth was used for multiple surfaces.

Altogether I was on the ward for a total of almost 9 hours.