Share review of Cleveland Clinic London Hospital

Cleveland Clinic London Hospital 2022-08-06 Person 4 5 0

Generally the standard of care was very good, and I was most impressed by the procedure which Cleveland used for the recruitment and five-month training of its its initial staff. They seem highly motivated, and work well together. Ollie who prepared me for my anaesthesia contrasted the culture of the Cleveland group very favourably with the "cultural stagnation" of the NHS. The Admissions Team did not work well with me. I have explained the problems to them and Professor Hakim in emails which should be available to you. Nurse Shola who was principally responsible for my pre-op assessment on 2 August was unable to communicate clearly with me in English at times, because her accent was unclear. I had to ask her to repeat her questions and comments frequently. One example was the mispronunciation of "hernia" as "hynia". When I the asked her to spell the word, she simply repeated "hynia" until I insisted on her spelling it, which she then did correctly. As an initial contact with nursing staff this did not inspire confidence. The technician sent from phlebotomy to install the cannula in my arm on 4 August seemed to lack the requisite skill. Nurse Katie discovered that he had made a serious mistake. She replaced the cannula and did so without a trace of pain, whereas the technician had given me some pain.

I was asked repeatedly to give the same information about my health by different members of staff, beginning with the pre-op assessment at 24 Portland Place on 2 August and continuing into the Grosvenor Clinic on 4 August. There seemed to be a lack of communication between the different departments, despite advanced technology. Not all staff seemed to have mastered the technology with which the hospital is so well equipped. The room means of controlling the temperature of the air-conditioning where I was located was poorly designed. It gave patient and staff inadequate control. This is a defect that has been reported by staff to no avail. It would be good to give the patient a small bedside table for personal belongings, such as phone and reading matter. It would be better if the blinds on the window could be partially opened and closed instead of only fully open or closed.

This was the fourth hernial repair Professor Hakim has performed for me in four years so he knows my body well and we communicate well. The only comment I have to add to what I have answered above is that it would have been better if he had given me a transfusion of platelets on perhaps the second occasion, because I then suffered serious bruising, and certainly on the third occasion when I suffered spectacular bruising, which was entirely avoided on this fourth occasion when he did administer them. On all four occasions my medical record showed me as suffering from "abnormal" (although not dangerously) low count of white platelets.

The high standards instil confidence.