Countess of Chester Hospital

I was programmed for a colonoscopy on Saturday morning, 14th October. All staff volunteered to work overtime. It ran to time, the consultant Mr Dala Vimalachandran was extremely kind and helpful. Unforntunately because of a very tight segment in the bowel and severe diverticular disease, he could not complete the examination. He and the nurese, especially Alison and Anna were excellent.

I went to the Countess around 5pm on the 21/07 after cutting inside my knuckle on my first finger of my left hand. Although I had a 2hr wait I fully understand the reasons why this occurred. When I was called through to be treated I was seen by a nurse called John who dealt with my injury quickly and efficiently. He talked me through each step and made me feel at ease, he put a couple of butterfly stiches in my finger and I was seen to in 10 mins. A++ Thanks

After giving birth I had to stay in for a week and baby spent 2 days in scbu. And could not fault a member of staff from doctors to midwifes healthcare, domestic. Each and every one was Fantastic. I would highly recommend this hospital for maternity care xx

I am absolutely disgusted by the care that my Grandfather received at this hospital. For a 86 year old man who has paid his taxes his whole life to be treated so badly is absolutely appalling. Problems started two years ago when he was diagnosed for one type of cancer (prostate and penile) and the other type he was later diagnosed for was completely missed first time round (bladder). Two years on and he was not called back for any checks, he is taken into this hospital again in December 15/Jan 16 and Feb 16 and constantly told he has infections when his local GP was saying he had no signs of infection and it was the cancer causing the pain and problems. He is then told in March 2016 that his bladder cancer is now aggressive and has spread to the muscle. My step-nan asks why he was not checked on for two years and the response she received from a doctor is that 'I can only put it down to administrative error and all we can do is apologise'. Numerous meetings were made with doctors to which they turned up two/three hours late or did not turn up at all. I understand that they are busy etc but if they are that busy, why agree to make meetings in the first place?? He was taken back into hospital the weekend of 22/23 April and was told that he had 'months left rather than years'. A meeting was scheduled with doctors/nurses and my step nan and mother (his daughter) for 9 May to talk about how they were going to get him home and set up care for him. He had developed a cough in the Countess which was never addressed by staff. The next day he was transferred to Ellesmere Port hospital where we were told that nurses quickly realised he was a very very poorly man. A week later he takes a turn for the worse and is put on oxygen, a Doctor at Ellesmere Port tells us that the end is very near and he passed away on the Sunday. So he passed away because of 'administrative errors' made by the Countess of Chester Hospital. The way he was treated in there and the care that he received makes me sick to my stomach. It is absolutely disgusting. Ever since they realised that they were responsible for how poorly he really was they were lying to us about how bad it really was. Not once we were told that he could die within three weeks, it was made out to us that he was going to be going home. Now it all makes sense why the doctors didn't turn up to his 'getting home' meeting - because they clearly knew that he was not going home at all. He received better care in the week that he was at Ellesmere Port hospital than he did ever in the Countess. The nurses were far more compassionate and caring than any of the nurses at the Countess. They have a duty of care that they are supposed to for fill, and they fell far from the mark. For example - he had had a penectomy due to the penile cancer two years ago (baring in mind this is probably highly soul destroying and embarrassing for a male in the first place) and the nurses at the Countess constantly used to say to him 'We need a urine sample, you need to pee into this pot'. Now this was clearly not possible for someone who had undergone a penectomy and was embarrassing for him. Do these nurses not read notes? Do they know nothing about their patients at all? This man is now dead because of 'administrative errors' made by this hospital, and someone needs to be held responsible. They gave up on him. We believe that he was abandoned and neglected because of his age. Which might I add, is discrimination. The cause of death on his death certificate stated A: pneumonia A: bladder cancer and B: prostate cancer. We believe that the cough that he had developed in the Countess was the pneumonia, which was never detected, nor were we told anything about. And we were also told by the Countess that the prostate cancer was not causing any of his issues. So why was it on his death certificate as a cause of death? There are a lot of lies that were told and the Countess have a lot to answer for. We had to watch him suffer for the last five days of his life, suffer in pain because of 'administrative errors'. Everyone makes mistakes, but in my opinion, administrative errors are just about acceptable when you're dealing with someones bank account or someones work, but when you're dealing with lives, there are no room for these kinds of error. Disgusting.

Absolutely everyone - from the front desk staff, the porters who helped me around, the nurses, doctors and radiology team - were a model of professionalism. They showed genuine empathy and concern. I honestly feel they could not have done more for me.