Share review of Diana Princess of Wales Hospital

Diana Princess of Wales Hospital 2023-06-19 Person 2 5 0

Part of my condition included photophobia and hyperacusis. The noise at times was beyond tolerable even without this and the insistence on turning on overhead lights was akin to someone with a nut allergy having peanuts thrown at them! There was zero understanding in these very real conditions and my pain and discomfort was tutted at or basically dismissed! I was left traumatised, crying and wanting to go home. Staff shouting to each other, doors banging, loud laughing all led me to believe that patients were incidental in this hospital ward. ‘Patient first’ was not evident! If staff want to discuss loudly the problem with paper towel shortages perhaps it can be done in staff meetings and not shouting across patients beds. I don’t want to hear when or where they are going on holiday while I am lying ill in bed. Nor do be I expect to be lied to when a staff member (plain light coloured dress, long blonde hair extensions’) told us the very annoying alarm that had been going off was due to someone pressing a button in the toilet but the toilet was locked so they were having to wait for the patient to come out to reset the alarm- this alarm was going off regularly throughout the day and evening. Amazing that when we complained about it - she managed to stop it within seconds! I also don’t appreciate the volume of her voice, her attitude and silliness when asked to PLEASE keep her voice down nor her insistence on calling patients ‘mate’. Then we have the staff who come into the ward at 5:30am and do nothing but open the doors, blinds, and turn on the lights!!! WHY? It would appear this is a case of “well we are up and awake, so should everyone else”. 5 days in this ward, five days this happened and not a single thing was done for the patients at this unearthly hour. Nothing! I could not wait to leave this ward due to being made to feel the patients just happened to be in the way of staff doing what they wanted when they wanted.

A serious retraining on patient first needs to happen! The unnecessary noise in general is unacceptable in an environment where people are poorly and trying to rest! A reminder that the people they are being paid to look after are priority and noise should be kept to a minimum! While I had heightened sensory issues, the other patients on the ward who didn’t were complaining about all of the above when I first arrived which led me to dread being there and they were right. Several staff however were excellent including Matthew who prepares the beds. His manners were impeccable. Also two of the staff nurses were very good too and are to be commended. The food was above par and some better than I’ve eaten on British Airways and on that note I cannot believe my greatest compliment is to the chefs!