"Appendicitis Emergency"

I presented to The Sutherland Hospital recently with a high fever and abdominal pain. I had already taken myself to my local medical centre and the doctor there gave me a letter and sent me straight to the hospital. I was seen fairly quickly in Emergency and then taken to a bed in Emergency. They had given me 2 Panadol, but then said I wasn't to have anything at all, not even water. They hooked me up to a drip to rehydrate me. I had a CT scan later on, and appendicitis was confirmed. I was transferred to a bed in a ward later that night and spent the night there after being told I would be operated on the next day between 8am & 11am. At that time the room I was put in (fairly small compared to the other rooms in the same ward) was occupied by another woman who left the next day. They brought in someone else fairly quickly and so there were two of us then. The next day they then brought in another 2 ladies (one of whom came with 9 visitors! ) Yes, 9. The room by then was fairly crowded and as it was a much smaller room than the others, it seemed that 4 patients in there was too many. As I was a private patient - having been encouraged to sign to have the hospital receive benefits as a private patient - I thought this was a bit poor. The room around our beds was quite small and nursing staff were struggling to get between the beds with their equipment - blood pressure monitors, etc. I was operated on later that afternoon and stayed for a total of 4 nights. The nursing staff were lovely and very hard working, don't get me wrong. More than one of the staff did a double shift while I was there. The room, however, was a total disappointment.  The surgeon was a delight to deal with. The anaesthetist, in my opinion, was not. The theatre staff were very friendly and put me at ease in a situation I was not familiar with. The catering and cleaning staff were also friendly and helpful at helping to pick up stuff I might have dropped, but couldn’t pick up of course! I think the overcrowding of this particular room (the one near the door which connects to the next ward) was ridiculous.   Also the bathrooms – both the toilet room & shower room could have been cleaned better and more often. They weren’t the cleanest. With infection risks this is something that needs to be addressed as a priority. Also there was more than one communication breakdown – first when I was questioning whether I would be operated on as the day dragged on – secondly when I was to be discharged – one nurse said, you’re going home today! I was thrilled. I hadn’t had much sleep. But this wasn’t the case.   It was the next day and as the day dragged on I had to repeatedly ask the staff when I could get the discharge papers. I finally did and my husband took me home around mid afternoon, but I think I would have been in there another night had I not insisted.   Perhaps some control of visitors could also be useful as people who are in there are sick in one form or another.