Share review of The Clementine Churchill Hospital - part of Circle Health Group

The Clementine Churchill Hospital - part of Circle Health Group 2014-03-12 Person 2 5 0

I attended the BMI Churchill as a day patient for a minor surgical procedure. I had originally been due to attend in the afternoon. I was contacted two days prior and asked if I would mind attending in the morning instead, because I was currently the only patient on the list in the afternoon and this would allow them to avoid having to pay the anesthetist (actual reason given). I somewhat reluctantly agreed, as it meant rearranging my work schedule to accommodate. By way of incentive, they informed me that if I turned up by 7.15 am, they would put me first on the list. I turned up at 7am. I was then shown to my room, where I was kept waiting for *seven hours* (until 2pm) before my procedure. During this time I was, of course, not allowed to eat or drink as I was nil-by-mouth due to the operation being performed under a general anesthetic. I was the last patient to operated on for the day's list, not the first. I can appreciate that, on occasion, there are delays. I'm sure we all deal with those in our day-to-day lives. However, to originally be told that I would be at the top of the list (which sets an expectation) and then for there to be absolutely no information whatsoever as to when I would be seen, led to a very long and very frustrating wait. Had someone said "I'm sorry there's a delay, you'll be seen in four hours" I wouldn't have been pleased, but I would at least have been informed. But no - instead, there was very little effort made to find out when my procedure would be undertaken (despite asking more than once), and the nursing staff seemed to feel that this state of affairs was acceptable. My room overlooked the car park and was particularly warm with the sun shining on to the windows all morning. Everyone commented when they came into the room as to how warm it was. I was extremely dehydrated after 7 hours without fluids. Nothing was done to prevent or mitigate this. Overall I found the nursing staff to be a) lacking in empathy, b) indifferent, c) careless, d) lacking in communication skills with poor English. One nurse (whose name was Alysha) and who, sadly, was a student nurse only temporarily there, showed more empathy in all her dealings with me than the rest of her colleagues put together. An example of this is where Alysha was assisting a more senior nurse in changing my dressings. The more senior nurse was most interested in changing the dressing in the minimum amount of time and with the minimum amount of effort. Alysha was most interested in changing the dressing while causing the minimum amount of pain. The two approaches were markedly different. A similar minor illustration came when Alysha wished to remove the cannula from my hand. The senior nurse was all for ripping off the sticking label (and all of the hair on my hand with it); Alysha was quite happy for me to peel the label off my hand with significantly less discomfort. While simple examples, these were indicative of the general attitude of the nurses. Most of the nurses knocked before entering the room (there is no lock on the door). Some didn't feel a need to bother. One entered the room while I was in the bathroom, and continued to do her paperwork in my room while she waited for me to emerge. The door was frequently left open after they had entered, so that anyone walking past could easily see in. The food was simplistic and not much better than you'd expect on the NHS. I requested fruit salad *and* a sorbet, and was told in no uncertain terms that I was allowed only one desert. For the amount paid, and given that my "main course" consisted of a jacket potato with tuna (from a can, served in a separate plastic tub; no mayonnaise) and coleslaw (served in a separate plastic tub and hand-delivered several minutes after the rest of the meal), one hardly feels that they had spent so much of their budget on food that they couldn't afford to "go wild" and give an extra portion of fruit salad. The food arrived an hour after it was ordered. Water was provided. It tasted of disinfectant. It is highly recommended that you take your own, bottled water. The water from the tap in the room has a "do not drink" sign over it. The location was generally clean. It reminded me of a Holiday Inn hotel that had last been refurbished in the 1950s. The theatre staff were professional and capable. The remainder of the staff (Alysha, bless her heart, excluded) were uncaring and indifferent throughout. Overall - never again.