On 6 Jun 2015 at 8:26pm Tim ustin wrote:
I have just spent an unplanned 36 hours as a patient in the Sussex County Hospital. I would just like to place on record my admiration for the staff that between them looked after me during my stay. They are under staffed, under paid and over worked. They were very apologetic for any delays but never placed the blame on an individual. They were happy, cheerful and always smiling.
I interacted with:
Reception Staff
Nurses
Porters
Trainees
Consultants
Doctors
Cleaners
Staff Nurse
I did find out that during my stay there were a couple of patients that didn't make it any further than the A and E dept.
People waiting around me did seem to moan about waiting an extra 20 mins because no doctors around, well they were trying to save a life at the time !
I am sure there will be bad experiences others can recall but from me and my family WE THANK YOU XXXX
On 6 Jun 2015 at 11:58pm 8 miles from home wrote:
How many different languages did you use?
On 7 Jun 2015 at 6:46am fifi wrote:
I have spent a lot of time in the Royal Sussex in the last 9 months and could write a catalogue of disasters ! I agree that the staff work under very difficult conditions but I've been the victim of sub standard care by staff on numerous occasions . I have also stayed at the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath which proved to be a more positive experience . Any Forum readers who have an admission at either hospital coming up may want to organise a food parcel rota with their visitors - the catering is terrible .
On 7 Jun 2015 at 8:37am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
I've always found all the staff at the county fantastic, but when I had to stay a couple of nights, I was a bit perturbed to find that both on the assessment ward and the ward I was later on, neither of them had a functioning bathroom!
I know it can be difficult to find a plumber when you need one, but I'd have thought a hospital would have one on the staff to fix the showers.
The Princess Royal is great, fantastic staff and very efficient. I've been for tests recently, and the only time I had to wait was to have some blood taken. The x-ray and MRI departments were really prompt. It also seems much cleaner and tidier than the County, which is reassuring.
The café in the main entrance sells fabulous home-made cake as well! I don't know if it's run by the WRVS or Friends of the hospital, but they bake great cake.
On 7 Jun 2015 at 9:43am townie wrote:
Last time my wife was in there, there was a very elderly lady in the bed next to her. The "porters/orderlys/catering staff" just put her dinner on the table that goes over her bed and left her.
We had to call the staff on 5 occasions to help this lady eat her (now cold) dinner. This was whilst most of the 10 staff (nurses etc) were all behind the main desk looking at photos of cars etc on the computer.
However, i'm sure that 95% of the staff do a bloody good job and are priceless to our hospitals
On 7 Jun 2015 at 11:11am Local wrote:
A difficult one, this. Many people regard daring to criticise the NHS or anyone who works for it as sheer blasphemy. But there are plenty of staff who regard themselves as untouchable because of this, and do a shocking job. Thankfully there are enough people who do an adequate or excellent job to balance out the awful ones.
(But it's not often you hear of people saying that Consultants are underpaid!)
On 7 Jun 2015 at 12:40pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
A few years ago, I broke my arm slipping on an icy pavement.
At the Vic, the nurse in charge had left her house very early, knowing that they'd be busy and her journey would take a long time because of the snow, and the radiographer had come in with an awful cold because she knew that if there was no radiographer, all the injured would have to go to Brighton for x-rays.
The waiting room was packed with people who'd hurt themselves in falls, they were really busy, but everyone was treated cheerfully and efficiently. They were brilliant.
Like any big organisation, the NHS is bound to have its share of slackers and the simply incompetent, but I think it's rare for frontline staff to be like that. I've no time for your average NHS manager though.
On 7 Jun 2015 at 3:07pm Earl of Lewes wrote:
I was rushed into Brighton with appendicitis last year and found the staff to be first rate - efficient, good humoured and endlessly patient. There was a woman in the bed next to me whose operation was delayed because she was so overweight, the doctors wanted to double-check her heart's health before proceeding. Did she thank them for going the extra mile? No, she just complained and ranted, saying "I wanna get out of this sh**hole as soon as possible!" I would have had a few choice words for her, but the nursing staff were completely professional.
As for the hospital itself, it reminds me of those mazes that were used to induce stress in laboratory rats and the parking is a disaster - I took my wife there when she was in labour and the queue to park was 45 minutes! In the end, she staggered out and made her own way there. Luckily, the baby wasn't born before I found a parking space. So top marks for the staff, but 0 out of ten for the parking and three out of ten for the building.
On 8 Jun 2015 at 3:05pm bastian wrote:
My few experiences of hospitals have been brilliant. I have found the staff to be incredibly patient and helpful even though they are on very long shifts and are under all kinds of imposed pressures. We are so lucky to be able to just turn up and get help, I never want to go bakc to the pre war system where only those who could afford a doctor got help. Or as it would be now, only a gold plated premium will get your heart sorted out, otherwise you can F off and die. see link for post war poater of the new NHS.
Check it out here »
On 10 Jun 2015 at 7:00pm Pearliegirliestar wrote:
I had to go for a chest X ray last week. Despite the fact that I arrived around 11am and the so called open session did not start till 2 pm(My doctor assured me, oh yes you can just turn up any time, must have been a locum) the staff did see me fairly prompt. I was very grateful, I had a wait but nothing like what I was expecting. Whilst I was there some really rude unpleasant man as shouting at the receptionist because he had had to wait longer than he felt necessary. All pointless, as his name was called whilst he was in full rant.
Waiting can be very frustrating but where does anyone get the idea that shouting at the receptionist will solve the problem, either in the long or short term.
On 12 Jun 2015 at 7:01pm bastian wrote:
Sadly people have been taught not to be patient (we are all patients at a hospital) and there fore to demand their rights!
It is another stupid tool to make people complain about what is an amazing free at the point of need service run by professionals.