Share review of Cheltenham General Hospital

Cheltenham General Hospital 2016-05-06 Person 4 5 0

The department seemed to be efficiently run, in general, and everything happened smoothly. The nursing staff were generally attentive and kind. The food was appetising and well presented, though perhaps not as "healthy" as it could be. I was not asked if I would have liked to see a chaplain and no provision was made for my spriritual needs. There was a "New Testament and Psalms" in my bedside cupboard - which was good. When I was taken to the angioplasty suite I was not told that there would be a substantial wait there and that it would be OK to bring my mobile phone with me. When I got there it became clear that out-patients were allowed to have a friend or relative with them, pending the procedure; but this was not made known to me either. I was somewhat worried that the person who was due to visit me on the Cardiac ward at 15:00 would turn up and just go away when they found that I was not there. When I asked about this, I was told that she would be redirected to the angioplasty suite and this is what happened; however if I'd had my mobile phone with me I would have told her what had happened and she might have come in earlier to keep me company. There was no need for me to have been transported to the angioplasty suite as soon as I was, as I had to wait while two other patients were treated and while the surgeaon/consulatant had lunch. [In fact I was glad that I was taken up when I was as this meant that I met a friend of mine who was in for the same proceedure as myself and we had a good long chat; but this was purely coincidental.] The wait to be discharged seemed excessive. I was told quite early on Friday that I was OK to go home that day. My medicines were delivered from the Pharmacy before lunch (I think) but I had to wait until 15:40 to be discharged. The other gentleman in the sideroom whioch my bed was in had a similar experience. This means that at least two beds were "blocked" for about four hours, which seems inefficient.