St Bartholomew's Hospital

I was an inpatient at St Barts for 1 week following a scheduled aortic valve replacement. Directly following my surgery, I was admitted to ITU, my next of kin was not informed of how the surgery went and despite ringing 6 hours after I went in (as advised) she was told to ring back and then could not get through to speak to anyone in ITU for an hour. The communication following my surgery could have been better to reassure and ease the stress and worry of my relatives. During my stay on ITU, HDU and ward 4A the nurses, doctors, pharmacists, porters and all other staff I interacted with were kind, thorough and professional. Following my surgery I was very thankful for staff who clearly wore name badges, I felt I built a better rapport and was able to remember their names better when reinforced with a badge. It enabled me to feel I could ask for help and engage with the staff better. When a staff member was not wearing a badge, despite introducing themselves, I found it difficult to remember their names and therefore felt there was less connection. There was some degree of miscommunication or complacency on discharge as I had to ask for my patient implant card (for my mechanical valve) and they had misplaced it. 6 weeks on I still do not have my implant card, which by law they are required to provide me, and no resolution has been found to provide a new one. Again, communication could be better. During my 6 week check up, I did not feel there was continuity of care, the clinic was running 1 hour 20 minutes late, and when I was eventually seen, it was by a disinterested member of staff who I had not met before. Given I had questions relating directly to my surgery, it would have been preferable to see the consultant or registrar surgeons who actually operated on me or the doctors who followed up with my care during my stay. I did not feel I got sufficient answers from the questions I posed due to the staff member not being present before, during or after my surgery so I felt the appointment was a bit of a waste of time.

What can I say... From the bottom of my heart, I cannot thank Dr. Ezzat & her team for what they have done for me at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. I am a congenital heart patient and now 25 years of age - around 3 years ago I developed random episodes of an extremely rapid heart rate, up to 250 beats per minute. Fast-forward to after having an implantable loop recorder fitted under the skin to capture these episodes, I was referred to Dr. Ezzat by my consultant cardiologist and underwent an electrophysiology study with catheter ablation on 24th May 2019 and was successfully treated for Atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia (AVNRT). I could not have asked for a better experience, from the very beginning when I had my consultation appointment to now, Dr Ezzat and her colleagues listened to my concerns from the outset and first and foremost, treated me with care and showed such empathy for how I was feeling, and understood the stress and anxiety the symptoms were causing me. She explained what they suspected was the problem and the treatment options available to me, including catheter ablation, which we decided was best for my particular case, and went on to explain what the procedure would involve, ensuring all my questions were answered and that I was fully informed of what would happen. On the day of the procedure, I was understandably really nervous and worried about the possible risks associated, however, I can only compare my entire experience as though I didn't even have a procedure at all! The team were so wonderful and reassuring, and Dr. Ezzat's knowledge & expertise was impeccable. I felt so safe and confident in her care and I can honestly say that I would do it over again without hesitation now that I know and it was better than I could ever have wished. The procedure itself was absolutely nothing to be worried about, everything was explained again and what to expect before being brought into theatre, and the only unpleasant thing would be the sensation of your palpitations being started so that the problem area can be located, however, I cannot stress that it lasts only for a couple of minutes and a member of the team was always by my side letting me know what was happening and constantly reassuring me. Dr Ezzat even kindly checked on me herself, despite leading the whole team and managing the operation which I truly appreciated. I was also given some light sedative which really helped soothe and relax me. The procedure took approx. 3 hours in total, but what seemed like only half an hour to me, I came out of theatre into my recovery room and my family couldn't believe how well and alert I was, and I genuinely felt so well, as though nothing had even happened. The wound where the catheters were inserted wasn't tender at all, thanks to the nurses who ensured a good pressure was kept on the area with a device. I was monitored closely throughout the evening & night and discharged early the next morning. I walked out of the hospital that day on cloud 9. All I can say is, please, if you are considering catheter ablation or are expected to undgo it, please do not worry! I understand completely how you must be feeling and I was in your shoes, googling everything and looking it all up, but honestly, it was nothing to be worried about at all and nothing like you would expect or build it up to be in your mind, and that is all thanks to the wonderful Dr. Ezzat and all the other specialists who took care of me that day. The hospital itself and all the staff I came across that day are amazing, the facilities are spotless. There is nothing I could say or do that would be enough to show my gratitude to them for giving me my life back. At only 25, the episodes I was suffering brought on terrible anxiety and fear, so much so that I constantly worried whether an attack would come on me at work, during meetings or out and about, to the point that I avoided any social situation. That has all changed and I am back to myself and give thanks each and every day to the wonderful cardiologists and electrophysiologists for my health. Thank you so much Dr. Ezzat, we are blessed to have specialists in medicine like you who truly care and have compassion for your patients, that thank you just simply isn't enough. Love, Laura x

Great hospital

Waiting times too high. Nobody knew what they was doing or where I was meant to be when.

1. I had an information handout from a dr saying i should have a prescription before a HyCoSy, I wasn't given one and when I emailed reception I was told the handout is wrong and no one gets a prescription. This was untrue, but it took 4 weeks and lots of emails and phone calls to the patient help desk to get a dr to confirm this, everyone is ment to get a prescription but dr sometimes don't do it. 2. For over 5 weeks we were told we were going to be called in the next few days by a nurse to schedule our treatment. We kept calling and kept being told in the next few days. We then revieved a call saying we weren't funded for treatment but no more info on what we could do next. We called 3 times and no one called us back. In the end my husband refused to get off the line and it turns out it was a mistake the nurse hadn't seen a relevent bit of paper in our file. 3. How many weeks I'm pregnant was written down wrongly by 2 weeks on the discharge forms to be given to the gp 4.we were given wrong information by the dr to how to report a treatment review for when we recieved new test results which delayed our treatment. 5.I asked a nurse about my thyroid medication and pregnancy and she was adamamt t was fine because she hadn't been told to inform me about it. I think checking with a dr would I think be an obvious thing to do but she didn't seem to want to when I asked for this. 6. I would have liked the dr to be more understanding and better informed about home insemination. We were told by our gp to try at home 'turkey baster' method as fertility treatment is invasive and upsetting but there is no info on this and dr at hospital very dismissive. The actual procedures were handled well and staff were generally very nice but I do feel members of staff have been giving out wrong info because they don't want to consult with each other or allow you to speak to the right person. I think there should be more dr to call people back on issues and discourage admin and nursing staff from answering questions they are not qualified to answer