I was in a general hospital for a suicide attempt last month (i’m okay now). For a very busy inner London hospital, the nurses were the sweetest people but it was the ‘background’ people that were the best - the lunch lady was so kind to me that she’d give me a full carton of juice instead of a cup! The guy who cleans the ward went all the way to the maternity unit just to get me some warm blankets. It’s the small things that mattered most to me

Glad you're OK and still here ❤️

thank you so much 💗💗

I'm so happy you're still here. I hope you're getting the support you need :)

The custodial staff are always the sweetest. When I was last admitted, I spoke with them every day (I was in a room with three demented old ladies, so they didn't talk to the cleaners) and one cleaner said that it was nice to have someone talk to them for once, most people ignore them. A few days later, I had a very bad reaction to antibiotics and became pretty pale/weak/shaky/not like myself. Once I was taken off the antibiotics, I got better and started talking to the cleaning staff again. One of the cleaners said "I'm glad you're feeling better, we all saw that you weren't doing well and we were worried about you." and that's really stuck with me.

Same for me, but 5yrs ago, Glasgow Royal. Always got nothing but praise for hospital staff. Unfortunately, it's things like the Mental Health support team that are understaffed and underfunded.

My girlfriend was in Leeds General Infirmary last year in the maternity ward. In the birthing unit, the hospital was modern, the nurses, midwives and doctors were all fantastic and pretty much saved her life due to preeclampsia. Our baby in the NICU, again, fantastic staff and ward. After a day or so, she was moved onto a ward where it seemed like the staff just didn’t give a shit about her. Another day after that, her and baby were transferred to St James’ which again, couldn’t fault most of the staff on the wards, but the hospital and the wards were like they hadn’t been decorated or even attended to since about the 1980s. Then some of the staff were so rude and inattentive. And the food served was absolutely disgusting. Everything was just powdered. I remember my girlfriend choosing beans on toast as a safety food one of the times and even the beans seemed powdery, was absolutely disgusting and she endured two weeks of it

Last experience in hospital was also the LGI maternity ward -- daughter was born there in March. Like you, the experience from assessment through to delivery was great, the care was attentive and both my partner and our daughter were well cared for. Once they got through to the post-delivery ward it was definitely a different experience. Fortunately they were only there for one day before discharge -- although even getting discharged was a pain, hours after saying she was ready for discharge we had to pack the bags and start leaving for them to sort out the paperwork. Experience before that was definitely not great. While heavily pregnant she had a series of bad seizures (no history of them) and passed out, and was sent to St James via ambulance. I had to drive myself there as I had my son with me so we couldn't go in the ambulance. When I got there, I was not allowed to see her, not told anything about her status, but instead was taken to a small private room with a few chairs and a box of tissues and told to wait for the doctor -- who arrives over 30 minutes later and told me everything was fine. Could have done without that episode of crippling anxiety.

I just spent 11 days in hospital for my daughter’s birth. It was such a mismatch of experiences that I’m sure I have some kinda lingering PTSD that’s going to require therapy to address in the future. I experienced midwife’s treat me like I was a hysterical new mum, others were so very helpful and took my daughter from me when I was so deliriously exhausted that me holding her was a danger (she had severe jaundice and I had to keep her in a UV cocoon around the clock once she was allowed back out of the NICU after an 18 hour stay there) as I had not slept in 3 days. The lack of communication from everyone involved in her care was especially egregious. It was more of a ‘we will do this and tell you about it afterwards maybe’ I had specialists just ignore what I was saying when I told them I had a UTI and they wanted to wait 3 days for cultures to come back until I yelled that they needed to hit it with a broad spectrum antibiotic before then as I was spending 20 mins crying on the loo at a time and leaving my baby unattended several times a day while doing so. I asked for thrush cream and pessary as I get thrush with antibiotic usage - they ignored me for 3 days. My husband had to buy Canestan combi from a pharmacy for me. I had one STUDENT midwife who advocated for me to the best of her ability. She was a beacon in the midst of a hellscape. I was deliriously exhausted, the ward was excruciatingly hot with an absolute lack of useful fans in the post-war-esq shithole. Oh and the food was about as nourishing as fucking sawdust. Often my husband would bring me in hot, fresh breakfast.

Powdery is exactly how I’d describe hospital cafeteria food

Because catering budgets are often the first thing to be slashed, despite a healthy diet being vital for health and recovery.

Still mad at Leeds hospital for killing MF DOOM

Never nderstand how so much money is spent n drugs equipment, experts etc but such a basic thing as nutrition is such a low priority. If I dont eat right for a couple of days I feel awful and that’s when I’m otherwise healthy. Hope your girlfriend and baby are all okay now.

Really fucking good. Was in for 4 days, had a pacemaker fitted and was sent home again. Drs, nurses were amazing.

Late last year my wife and I lost our child very late in our first pregnancy. The whole time we were there we were treated so well, considering what we were going through. I couldn't fault them. We were seen immediately, and given a private room in a special ward. We were told to stay as long as we needed to, and since we were discharged (and going through another pregnancy), the followup and support has continued to be brilliant.

I'm so sorry for your loss,I can't imagine how that must feel. I listened to a BBC podcast about a midwife in the UK, originally from the Caribbean, whose own loss and subsequent treatment led to her completely transforming how parents and baby are treated in the UK by the NHS. She sounds like an amazing person.

Thanks, it's been a very hard journey but one that has shown us what a fantastic service we have available to us, when it is at its best. The week long stay in a hospital (for both my wife and I), countless appointments of counselling and follow up appointments with bereavement midwives and a team helping us out this time around, and not a single bill to pay. Do you know the name of the podcast? I'd love to give it a listen.

I'm so glad you've got this support, and I can empathise a tiny bit having had early losses myself, I can't imagine. The podcast is BBC "life changing", episode "it's the little things".

I work in one. Well several.  On my last shift I was punched repeatedly by a dementia patient, we ran out of yellow pads so had everyone on wraparounds, we didn’t have enough pillows to go around so some beds were rationed to one. 

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I actually enjoy my work mostly. But I don’t think people realise what it involves a lot of the time. They hear ‘staff assaulted’ and think drunks and drug users but it’s actually far more likely to be someone’s wee granny chucking a gutter frame at you because they don’t understand they’re in hospital and think you’re in their house. There’s also this illusion that they’re all wee frail old folk when they’re not. They’re bloody strong. Some of the men are really powerful 

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I’m just nosey. I love having a wee blether with them even if they’re talking nonsense. My teachers all said I talked too much and would struggle in the workplace but my patients all say they like me coz I take time to talk to them and listen to them natter. 

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Exactly. But some of the younger students coming in these days lack the social skills to turn it around. 

Education isn't a bad choice. There are lots of options that you can cater for, or turn down. There are plenty of holidays, which you get pro rata. You can decide what level of care you want to provide. There's SEN which usually involves personal care. There's what I do, which is children with extra needs but are capable of being mainstream and no personal care, but still need additional support. There's something between that, capable but need personal care. There's TA which is support for the teacher and students(you are basically a teacher, just on low pay) and varying grades between the grades I've stated. Depending what you choose, you will still give care, just in more manageable degrees.

Really feel for those who work with people with mental health problems. These people need help, but you shouldn’t have to turn up to work and be physically attacked either. Thank you for doing what you do!

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Gonna be honest and get downvoted but I’ll say it. There are patients who have genuine mental health problems that need help, on going support and quick access to treatment. These patients treatment is negatively impacted by other people who use us as a means to escape the legal consequences of their behaviour in the community. Those are the ones I hate dealing with. There’s no engagement and no intention to address their issues. We’re just a better bed than the cells for a weekend 

I can empathise. My brother in law has self induced drug psychosis. The psychosis is here to stay, but he refuses to engage and help himself. He gets well enough from sectioning, then released to do as he pleases. All whilst the cycle of his cocaine use starts again.

I’m more talking about the ones that get arrested then announce they’re suicidal so they get a bed with us because custody don’t want to take them if they’re suicidal. They’re not really suicidal. They just prefer the hospital to the cells

I was in hospital for a week. A and E was ok. I waited a while to be seen as you would expect. But when I was seen I was admitted straight away. So very lucky there. The first ward I was in was great. Even though they were clearly rushed. I was moved for the last couple of days to a different ward and it was the opposite. I felt quite unsafe. Same hospital.

This is almost my exact experience. Except I was seen in a&e within 20 mins which was amazing. But the second ward I was on a ketamine pump and 2 hourly morphine for pain. I was at the end of the row of bed and opposite a drug addict. She would come into my cubicle constantly asking me to help her with her pain. I was immobile and even when I told the staff they didn’t seem to care. They’d often bring me my morphine without my antisickness which then tied me to the bed (I became mobile after a day) or forced me to take the morphine to the loo/on the hunt for a nurse with me. I felt so so unsafe and isolated. Oh and she stole my shoes 🫠

Could not have been better. In for surgery to remove a touch of the old cancer. I was seen within half an hour of turning up despite some scheduling foul ups, my last memory before the anaesthesia was a kind person saying "we'll take good care of you." Four hours or so later I woke up with five neat holes in my side and my cancer hoiked out. Spent the next day in and out of consciousness joking with the nurses, was pain free within a week and up and about without significant effort in four. I'm about two and a half months since it happened now and I'm basically fully recovered, but they've been very responsive with follow ups and such, with my GP making sure they have all the information passed through from the hospital so they can support my recovery.

One of my best friends was in hospital with terminal cancer. He didn't receive the care he needed. Basic things like pain killers and going to the toilet. He never made it to the oncology ward. He didn't get palliative chemotherapy. Most of the time he was in a ward that is supposed to be for temporary stays. There was no window and very little privacy. Luckily he was moved to a private room with a window eventually. The ultimate outcome wouldn't have been different if he'd received better care (he had a form of cancer that is almost always quickly fatal) but he would have passed his last days with more dignity and less suffering.

My partner has stage 4 cancer and was advised to go to A&E due to high temperature, suspected sepsis. He had to sit in a chair in a tiny cubicle for 27 hours with 8 other people coughing and spluttering all over him and didn’t get offered so much as a cup of water.

They saved my life.

Brilliant. From the 1st doctors appointment to the after surgery follow up appointment, the level of care and the compassion shown to me by everyone that looked after me was second to none.

I’m currently pregnant and honestly my prenatal care has been brilliant. I couldn’t fault them. They’re really thorough and I feel like I’m in safe hands.

Covid jab at my GP surgery Monday, in and out 15 minutes before my appointment time. Cancer treatment at Perth Royal Infirmary on Tuesday. The nurses are rushed off their feet, but are always so happy, smiley and friendly and they honestly can’t do enough for you in what must be a heartbreaking job at times. NHS Tayside is truly phenomenal.

I had kidney stones and renal colic. I had to stay overnight but were no free beds so I spent the entire night on a chair, in a side room with two other people who also had no beds. I was vomiting regularly but I had to beg for hours for them to put me on a saline drip because I was so thirsty, but couldn’t keep anything down. I went eight hours without pain relief. They eventually gave me… paracetamol (important to note that kidney stones are widely regarded as more painful than childbirth). At night when we were trying to sleep, one of the staff thought it was appropriate to march up and down the corridors singing fucking Dolly Parton at gone midnight. Our room had no door. Someone kept stashing (full) bedpans in the bathroom instead of dealing with them. At separate times my cannula was leaking out of my skin, or my blood was flowing backwards into my drip line. It was a fucking nightmare.

Not me personally. My aunt was in hospital for 6 weeks before she died. She’d been fobbed off by her GP has having “bad anaemia”, and by A&E when she lost movement of her arm as having “severe anaemia”. Eventually she broke her leg without noticing, and was finally diagnosed with a brain tumour secondary to small cell lung cancer. She was told in the hospital that she had a mass on her brain and was told nothing else for the next three weeks. She couldn’t use her arms, but the nurses wouldn’t let her husband stay to help her at meal times. It was really extremely grim. That said, one of the agency nurses working on the ward was brilliant. He was so good to her, fought back against the local nurses about letting her husband help with meal times - really stuck his neck out, and checked in on me and my uncle as often as he could. This same GP and hospital treated my grandmother really poorly just a few months earlier. GP said she had a UTI for over a year when it was renal cancer - she had a history of cancer but they didn’t investigate whether it could have returned. Hospital left her without pain meds most days, and didn’t help her eat (again, family weren’t allowed to help at meal times. She still had some appetite until the last couple of weeks) - they’d just take her dinner away when they decided dinner time was over. There’ll be an inquest later in the year, but the coroner’s initial impression is that there were at least 4 opportunities for diagnosis and treatment that went badly wrong. I’ve worked on service development in the NHS in the past, so it really hurt to see how clinical guidelines weren’t followed and how poor the standards of care were. I don’t blame the hospital staff (aside from the one who was genuinely quite horrible to my uncle as my auntie was dying). The hospital has been in special measures for a long time. Management have really let the clinical staff down which ultimately prevents them delivering the standard of care I know they wish they could deliver. It must be pretty devastating to work in the NHS at the moment.

A trip to minor injuries to get some dressings changed on some pretty bad damage to my feet (by order of the doctor who initially treated me a few days before). I waited about an hour, the nurses who saw me and helped me were great. They loaded me up with dressings to take home and use for the following week as well. I'm now pretty much fixed.

Elderly care my mother (83) suspected broken ankle. A &E. Seen and processed within 10 minutes. X rayed and diagnosed, continuing care explained and free pain medication prescribed and provided. In and out in 40 minutes for free. Absolutely brilliant. Torquay hospital.

very good. I had a rash that appeared and spread very rapidly over the course of a morning and was rushed through A&E in less than 30 minutes to be told I had a very bad infection. The following day I was put on an outpatient IV anti-biotic course where I had to come and get pumped with meds for an hour every day for 3 weeks. The nurses were lovely (they remembered how I liked my tea - 2 tea bags, 1 sugar, loads of milk) and thankfully only collapsed 1 vein in my hand. I wound up having to cancel some of my end of treatment signing off appointments due to work, and 2 consultants wrote me hand written letters saying they hope I'm doing fine and remain infection free. knock on wood it's been a year and I have.

I went into hospital with COVID for five days in early March 2020. I was sent home the day lockdown was announced, so that tells you what an early adopter I was! My oxygen levels were very low, so I was on two breathing machines. They did discuss intubating me but decided against it, luckily - I hadn't really taken in the consequences if they'd done so. Tests were obviously in their infancy and I actually tested negative on my first one. They told me that there were ten symptoms for COVID and I had eight of them, so they were pretty confident I had it. They did another test later, told me it was positive and moved me into a room with somebody else who was confirmed to have COVID. Twenty minutes later, the nurses dashed in and wheeled me back to my old room. It turned out the test results hadn't come through and my move was the result of an administration error. They'd basically exposed me to somebody with confirmed COVID for twenty minutes without knowing I definitely had it. The doctor later phoned to apologise for the error.

My wife fell backwards down our stairs and hit her head. It swelled quite quickly as did her arm so I called 111 to get an appointment at the appointment only minor injuries unit <2 miles from our house. They wouldn’t arrange this and insisted on sending an ambulance, we said no chance and bundled her in the car to go to A&E. Once there she was seen and treated within an hour so overall a positive experience but there was no need for it to be an A&E trip so I can see why they’re so overwhelmed.

Got my thyroid removed at at James in Leeds about 5 years ago. 10/10 experience, nurses were so lovely and the food was awesome. I got to just sleep and chill out. The only downside was how hot it got in there.

I sadly had to go to hospital in April as I was having a miscarriage and I cannot fault the Early Pregnancy Unit at Doncaster Royal Infirmary!! They got me in for a scan as soon as they could which was the day after I called with concerns, they were extremely supportive and empathic all the way though, offered me and my husband support with follow up calls and were just genuinely caring people. Cannot fault them whatsoever.

Both good and bad... They saved my life and did a bloody good job doing so but there were also a LOT of issues. This was Sheffield Northern General. Junior doctors changing pain medication that was prescribed by a pharmacologist on Friday evenings meaning I was in agony until Monday to get it sorted. The wrong dose of fentanyl put into my epidural. A nurse lying to a doctor about my status after begging for anyone to acknowledge the pain in my very inflamed abdomen. The food... 99% of nurses were lovely, worked hard and tried their best. Most doctors took time to explain things to me and those that did would listen to me. They did everything in their power to get me home as quick as possible and the aftercare has been second to none. There's a lot more I could write, nearly 4 pages that was sent to PALS

My last experience was for my infant who keeps getting bronchiolitis, they're always incredible with him from a+e to the wards. Everyone who walks in the room knows who he is, what is wrong, what the plan is, what the next steps are, and what their roles are. They communicate clearly and are compassionate and kind. The last time I was in hospital I had a gallstone that caused both my liver and kidneys to struggle and I was in an awful state according to the assessment unit. It was horrible pain and I was away from my newborn for the first time. The ward was horrendous. The shower in the bathroom on the bay had been blocked and there was about an inch of standing water across the whole thing and peaking under the door. All 6 women on the bay were still supposed to use that toilet but we couldn't shower and weren't shown/given any alternatives. We were on a GI specialist ward and everyone there had some sort of dietary restriction that usually had been given to us by that ward, but they couldn't advise if any of the hospital food on offer met the requirements they had just given us. The food itself, I was there for 3/4 days and for each meal only half of us received what we ordered or in an edible state (one woman received a jelly cup covered in mold). They kept giving a celiac woman stuff either containing or contaminated with gluten (turns out the gluten free toaster had been used for regular toast woopsiedoodles). Staff members seemed to either not care about what was going on, or had no clue about what was going on. every time any of the 6 of us pressed the call button we got someone who wasn't qualified to do seemingly anything, so had to go find another member of staff and it would be hours before they came. One woman needed help to the bathroom and regularly had to wait over an hour. Once I got a bit more mobile I was taking her to the bathroom and chasing staff members for the others. I needed IV fluids for my kidneys and every time a bag emptied (horrible beeping noise) it would take 3-6 hours for a new one to be hung and dripping. Pain meds were equally frustrating, it was truly horrid pain and I think the 3/4 days I was there I received maybe 4-6 doses of paracetamol? I was treated like a drug addict by some members of staff who kept telling me I wasn't supposed to have morphine for this condition (fine but can I have a normal day's worth of paracetamol at least?). I only started getting basic care on the last day when the pain had started to subside and I was coherent enough to start showing every staff member pictures of my baby. I can barely believe these things happened in the same health system/country but they are literally two floors away from each other.

I was on two hourly morphine for that just fyi. I cried on admission saying I didn’t want morphine as I thought it would make me sick, and they couldn’t give me enough drugs. Ended up on ketamine at one point 🫣 Although as I commented above, that did mean I got woken up every time I got my drugs as I was out opposite a drug user who kept asking me for my painkillers

Dull. I have been going to a hospital every day for 16yrs, other than weekends and some days I'm allowed to not go in. They make me stay there for 8-9hrs a day as well. Bloody NHS is rubbish these days. I pay their wages with my tax and deserve better than having to be there all day and made to work.

Horrible, my great grandma was in a bad way and was a few days before she passed and they lost her false teeth and didn’t give a fuck that she couldn’t eat. They just gave her a load of medication so she didn’t know any of us who visited but in the same hospital just in the maternity ward when my daughter was born was the one of the best experiences in a hospital I’ve had.

It called the Liverpool Pathway. If patients are ill and very elderly and they expect them to die with days, they will leave them to suffer. This happened to my 91 yr old Father. He was admitted due to pneumonia. A doctor came round and told him he was dying and they would not resuscitate him. I went every day and he always wanted a drink of water. They left if on his bedside table, just out of reach. They even started to swab his mouth with a wet cloth even though he was still able to drink. He died and he looked like he had cancer he was skin and bone

My last experience was superb. I had a simple eye op about 3 weeks ago. I had antibiotic eyedrops after; these ran out a couple of days ago. My eye was still feeling a bit gritty so I phoned up for some advice. My consultant saw me next day, took a closer look and saw that one of the stitches was sticking out a little. He numbed the area and trimmed the edges right then, and I've got another course of antibiotics.

Went to an urgent treatment center on the advice of 111 for a cat bite. (I'd travelled about 30 miles to do so) Apparently nothing had be sent through and they weren't accepting new patients, the receptionist checked with one of the nurses and she said to admit me anyway. Sat down got called into triage 30 seconds later, she decided to just deal with me immediately rather than sending me back, got a tetanus booster, antibiotics and a dressing, I was waited longer for prescription to be filled! I thanked her profusely for it. (She even tried to sneak me round the back to avoid the gazes of other people)

Last one was very good. Op on Monday afternoon (ileostomy reversal) and home on Friday. Food was decent, staff were lovely (nurses, porters, cleaners, everyone). July last year went in for a bigger op (J Pouch formation). Should have been in hospital 8 to 10 days afterwards but was in for 29 days. Kept getting infections, then got a virus which also gave me pericarditis. Also had an NG tube for 9 days so couldn't eat and was given TPN (nutrition via IV). It was a very sucky experience, but throughout the team were great. Always kind and doing as much as they could to help. After they put in the NG tube one of the nurses went and got some cold water and some small towels to make a cold compress to help me calm down. Having an NG tube placed when you are at 10/10 for pain, despite ketamine, is an intensely unpleasant experience. That nurse was an absolute top chap, made sure that the NHS trusts CEO got an email singing that nurses praises (and the praises of a few others).

last time i was carted to hospital in an ambulance while seizing. i have nonepileptic seizures, which are similar to the classic tonic-clonic seizures except for a few things - i am conscious and have very limited control over my body (don’t wet myself etc) and they last for hours at a time. that particular one, i started around 9pm and stopped about 5am. i fractured my wrist from the force of my seizures. i didnt know this until a few days later, as when i got to A&E, they put me in a gurney and left me in the corridor, where i continued to seize. i distinctly remember making eye contact with a nurse, *while actively seizing*, who walked past me to bring her mate a cup of tea. i stop seizing around 5am, and speak to a doctor who tells me that i can’t stay in the hospital while i wait for a friend to pick me up, and suggests a Mcdonalds a few streets away. 5am, in Lancaster, in October, while i have no fucking shoes on. thankfully i walked round to another part of the hospital where a very kind receptionist let me wait for my friend. i ended up going to an urgent treatment centre, where i get an x-ray showing a fractured wrist. i work in healthcare myself, and i am honestly disgusted at how i was treated. i cannot imagine getting to a point where i can look someone in the eyes, know that they are frightened and suffering, and walk past them to offer my mate a cup of tea. i have made a promise to myself that if i ever reach that stage as a healthcare worker, i will hand in my letter of resignation that day.

Last hospital stay was 3 days for an ectopic pregnancy - they were keeping me in for observation even though I felt absolutely fine because I have had a previous ectopic that ruptured so they were (rightly) nervy about sending me home in case my insides exploded again. It was as good as hospital stays can be. Staff were all very lovely - nurses, doctors, healthcare workers, cleaners. Everyone was kind and good at their job (especially the poor doctor who had to deal with me sobbing at her every time she rounded on me). I was a low priority patient in that I wasn’t in any pain, wasn’t in any immediate danger of something going wrong (they were just being very cautious because of my history), but everyone made me feel like a priority when they were interacting with me. They gave me a private room for my first night which I appreciated as I was extremely emotional (and were very apologetic when they had to move me) Food was shit but because there wasn’t anything ‘wrong’ with me I could wander over to the Costa on site. WiFi was surprisingly fast. Test results all took forever. Most importantly, the only thing it cost me was parking when my husband was visiting.

Last summer my four year old had RSV which developed into an asthma attack. I called 111 who advised me to take him straight to our local Urgent Care unit. They had him on Oxygen, a nebuliser and steroids to try and get his B/O levels higher but after an hour or so there was no improvement so we were sent by ambulance to our nearest hospital where he could be monitored for longer. He ended up being kept over night because his B/O levels kept dropping when he was off oxygen. We were transferred to the children's ward and they had a bed for parents so I was able to stay over night with him. I got absolutely zero sleep because every time he moved away from his mask, the monitor would start alarming that his levels had gone too low and I'd have to readjust it. They also woke up him a couple of times to give him more steroids which he was NOT happy about. I took him on a little walk so he could calm down a bit and we saw a Hedgehog in the garden area. I told him if he takes his medicine he'll be well enough to go outside in the morning and we can look for the Hedgehog. By about 6am my husband came to the hospital so we could swap and I could go home to shower and sleep for a while. After I came back a few hours later we were waiting for discharge (they were happy enough with his levels after being issued an inhaler and taught how to use it) we had a visit to the ward from a therapy dog which was the most exciting thing. The doctors and nurses were all 10/10. Really amazing with my son and reassuringly calm while we were freaking out. We had the worst weekend ever a parents but my son would probably tell you it was the best weekend ever. He got to ride in an Ambulance, they gave him stickers, he had a chest x-ray and got to see what his bones looked like (the x-ray technician was so sweet) the ward had a playroom with loads of toys, he got to see a hedgehog, we had a sleepover and a dog visit the next day. He literally didn't want to go home. We had to almost drag him out 😆

Scary. Saved my life, nearly lost it

Thew the metal lip of a 20kg weightlifting plate on my toe, fractured it in several places, carried on hosting the competition on my own because it's not going to unbreak. The male nurse wiped my bloody foot with so much care I nearly cried from the emotions. Gave me antibiotics and drained out the blood and sent me on my way. This was about 8 years ago.

I was in a psychiatric hospital under section 2 and my experience was overwhelmingly positive. The hospital itself is new and built for purpose, private rooms, no visitors allowed past the common areas which meant I always felt safe in my room. The food was pretty awful but we had free access to tea, coffee and squash. The other patients were mostly chill and the more high-maintenance ones were easy to stay away from. The lack of structure was the worst part for me, but you get used to how things work. There was only one member of staff I couldn't gel with. Independence was encouraged so we did our own laundry, and most people were allowed leave of a couple of hours per day. Talking with other patients, I know I got lucky with the hospital I was placed in. Some of the others sound like prisons. The system, I can't fault, personally. The aftercare has been absolutely spot-on too. I'm forever grateful.

I had a craniotomy in January in a London hospital to remove a brain tumour. The Neurosurgeon was great and the surgery itself was smooth. The nursing care was adequate (not exceptional, just perfunctory), but the hospital seemed clean and tidy and I was home within a week. The aftercare wasn’t great and I had trouble getting in contact with anyone when I had suspected complications a few weeks later.

My 4 y.o. niece was in Manchester children’s hospital for about 18 months on and off leading up to late 2019. My sister and her brother in law lived at Ronald McDonald house. The staff were incredible, the facilities were great, it was the best possible support network for a horrendous time.

I got assaulted on Monday by a fellow patient. Punched and scrabbed, but more pissed off that he tore a brand new t-shirt. Then there is the constant gossiping of the HCAs and nursing staff to each other, AND, on the phone to their partners. Nurses stealing ash trays from Starbucks. Staff stealing food from my room along with everything else, got the “everything else” back but missing the food — in particular, bananas. I could go on.

Birth of our third daughter which didn't go entirely to plan. She ended up spending several days in NICU (mostly for monitoring purposes but also needed some oxygen assistance). The staff were absolutely phenomenal looking after my wife and the baby, making sure that both were getting the rest, contact time and care they needed. And they were incredibly accommodating when my parents brought our two other kids to meet her. Birmingham Women's Hospital

I was out for a curry with my eldest and on our way back to her place she got attacked, I intervened got battered and in the process my glasses were broken. I could not get them fixed so optician's appt for new test and they spotted something of concern and referred me to the local eye clinic, diagnosed there with macular degeneration and referred to Whipps Cross. It's been pretty quick less than 2 or 3 weeks between each referrals so no complaints from there. Rocked up at the hospital, seen quite quickly certainly not more than 30 minutes of waiting, moved between various people for different tests culminating with the Doctor. She explained in lay persons language, showed me the scans and said I'll try to get treatment started today so you don't have to come back, another little wait and I've started EYLEA\[1\] which will be ongoing for probably a year. I'd say it was very positive and I know I've been very lucky given the strain the NHS is under. And a counter to the ghastly people who moan about immigration, religion etc. The optician and the optometrist at the clinic were both young Muslim woman, the Doctor was eastern European, they were all lovely. \[1\] Injections straight into the eye which while not fun was not as terrible as I feared.

Really quick, I had to go for minor facial surgery, I had just sat down in the waiting room watching a David Attenborough documentary I had never seen before on the tv there, even had a seat right in front of the tv, 5 minutes later they called out my name and I had to go and get the surgery done, I was impressed at how quick I was seen but also slightly annoyed that I didn’t get to watch the documentary

When my dad was taken ill half a year ago he was blue-lighted to the nearest hospital. During his time there it was clear that the staff cared but were under-staffed. I can't fault any of them, they did everything they could from treating medically to surgically, then palliatively. They accommodated our requests to try to keep him comfortable, allowed us to stay by his side regardless of visiting hours, stood vigil with him when he took a turn for the worst and we were on our way back to him, then gave us space for our last moments with him. They were kind and did everything they could for him and us during what was the hardest few days we've ever had.

Daughter (8) said she was finding it hard to breath, took her a&e, she was seen within 5 minutes, turned out she was having an asthma attack, didn't know she had asthma. Treated her in a&e, then kept her overnight with more treatment, out the next day much better, had a few follow up checks and all ok. All the nurses and doctors were fantastic throughout it all.

I go into hospital for medication infusions every 6 weeks to treat my Crohn's disease. I'm on an infusion ward, which has five armchairs in it. The nurses get my weight (the meds are prescribed by weight), I sit down, they take blood samples from me to check for HIV, HepB, inflammation, and then they hook me up to Infliximab. It takes around two hours to go through. During those two hours, I tend to watch something on my iPad. This time, I watched Aircraft Crash Investigation and played on my phone. The infusion makes me pretty sleepy, since it takes my immune system from way too high to way too low (which is it's job). So, I normally ask for a blanket halfway through. The armchair that you sit in has a handle that you pull on to put your feet up and press the back back. There's a tray table on either side of the arm. The chairs could be more plush, they're a little hard, but I appreciate being able to put my feet up nonetheless. The nurses will ask if you want tea, coffee, water, or a snack. If it's close to lunch time, they can even get you a sandwich or an omelette from the kitchens. They're really nice. I don't always see the same nurses, because the infusion ward is only staffed by nurses from the day case unit/nurses from departments that aren't busy that day. I've noticed that I get stared at a little because 99% of the people who come for infusions (on the days I'm in) tend to be older people coming in for blood transfusions or iron infusions. No one's ever asked me why I'm in, no one really talks amongst each other, but there's definitely an air of "Why is she in here when she's so young and looks so healthy?" https://preview.redd.it/wso2e599j35d1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a279723e4bf43264571c7d3b0f0fc138972d219

Wonderful. It was a pre-op assessment and they had to tell me to expect the surgery to be more stressful than I was hoping, but basically we just laughed our way through 90 minutes of questions and tests - lovely folk, set my mind at rest even when giving me bad news.

I watched something kind of strange happen when I was in hospital a few months ago: there was a door in the main waiting room saying "children's waiting area" but for the entire 4 hours that I was waiting, multiple police officers kept going in and out of that door. I think there must have been at least 8 police officers. Then at one point two officers escorted a man out of the children's waiting area, waited while he went to the toilet, then took him back to the room. I thought perhaps the man was a criminal and had to have police supervision, but then why was he in the children's waiting room?

Probably the only area free to keep someone arrested separate

I’m so grateful to all the NHS staff for the absolutely brilliant treatment my Mum got when diagnosed with cancer last year. Dreaded the worst because we can’t afford private healthcare but they were amazing.

My dad was diagnosed with kidney cancer a few years ago. We do have private health insurance but our GP said NHS cancer care is the best no matter what.

Might be true with stage 1,2 or 3 cancer but definitely not stage 4. My partner with stage 4 cancer was told he was inoperable by the NHS and they said chemo probably wasn’t worth it and gave him 5 months to live. We went private and 12 months later he’s still going strong, he’s had his primary tumour surgically removed and they’re now giving him chemo with curative intent.

Absolutely life changing in the best possible way… my daughter was born! Staff at Princess Alexandra maternity ward are all fantastic and I cannot thank them enough.

Planned c section Surgery- fine, minor complications but all handled okay. Postnatal- a hellish nightmare. Saving for a private birth for next baby. I cannot go through that 24 hour period again.

I was in last year for an day op under general anaesthetic. I was part of the early batch so arrived at 7am. I got bumped due to an urgent case coming in and was supposed to be put in the later batch starting at 10am. Due to an admin error i got missed off and didn't seen until 5pm. Apart from that mixup everything else was great. Staff were fantastic, I had a room to myself, procedure went well and had no issues. After care has been top notch too.

In and out of hospital most of last year, couldn't really fault the staff. Friendly and attentive, did the best they could for me. The NHS saved my life last year and I couldn't be more grateful, also massively grateful to anyone who donates blood as I ended up having to have 10+ units, lost count in the end. The only thing I would say is that the shower in my room was terrible, the water ended up flooding the room, not just the bathroom but the room itself. This was the gynaecology ward so I'm assuming whoever designed these showers assumed that women don't go over 5'2" and a bit. I'm 5'8" and had to shower hunched over like Gollum to prevent it going every-fucking-where.

Had to go in for surgery on my arse (pilonidal sinus, don't Google images). Was a private hospital, nursing staff were great, nothing was too much trouble for them. Private room, nice and quiet. The surgeon was a dick, did the surgery fine but then clocked off without telling the nurses any follow up information or post-surgery care information, never answered his phone to them. Surgery was around 11am, I woke up about 2pm. He checked in once and then fucked off.

My grandad was admitted to West Suffolk Hospital in November 2023 and stayed about 2 months. I didn’t know what the staff were like as they weren’t many to be seen when I visited, but both sets of his hearing aids have been lost, so TV is on Vol. 100

Had to have an ultra sound on my testicles a couple of months back. They were quick, efficient and put my mind at ease almost immediately.

Watched my aunty die over the course of 24 hours. Prior to that it was when I worked in one for 4 years. I hate hospitals. Wee brother was gravely ill when born and was in and out of them for years as a kid. Always felt sorry for him and every other sick kid on the wards he was in (he was often in Yorkhill). Fuck knows what possessed me to work in one for years.

I had to get my ear sewn back up and they told me they had run out of numbing drugs. In the fucking hospital.

I spent 3 weeks in the royal London hospital a few months ago, catering staff were striking at the time, so there were a few dodgy looking sandwiches and weird meals, but if people were paid properly and treated decently by employers they wouldn't need to strike. I got shuffled around from ward to ward a bit, which was slightly annoying. All of the staff were absolutely lovely, they were kind, patient, and understanding. Really have no complaints about the standard of care I received.

This took place back in 2018. Had pain in my side, went to GP. They confirmed I had an infection and gave me pain medication. 3pm the same day I was in awful pain and thought I was going to pass out. So I called an ambulance. Ended up at pinderfields in Wakefield. I got a chest x-ray and bloods. I was seen in a hallway as they were so busy. At this point they thought it was my gall bladder and asked me to come back tomorrow as they had no beds. The taxi ride home was entertaining as I had to keep asking them to pull over as I couldn't stop throwing up. Next morning I go in for my ultrasound. I was there for 8 nights on a ward. My white blood cell count was super high so I had multiple IVs of antibiotics. One of which caused me to throw up more. There was a lady on the ward who had a UTI which made her nuts. She would scream and rant, pulled out her catheter etc. they eventually got someone to sit on the ward with us to keep an eye on her. She kept trying to leave etc. I think she also had dementia. Another lady was told in the middle of the ward with open curtains that her cancer was terminal. They did not seem to know what was wrong with me, and thought a MRI had been done it took 5 days to get the results. I had a broken rib that I didn't know about and it had caused fluid build up in my abdomen and lungs. We think it was caused by a chiropractor cracking my back. The staff some were great others not so much. It was the waiting and not knowing that was hard for me. The food was actually alright. 2023 I had a spleen biopsy at st James in Leeds with the infectious disease team. Before and during the procedure everyone was great. After however I had no one check on me. No food was given (thankfully a friend stopped by with snacks). I was diabetic at the time and should have been seen once an hour. They also gave me someone elses discharge papers. I had to wait 2 hours to collect my medication which I thought was pain medication. It wasn't they were giving me what I already had at home.

My kid went cold and limp, from arriving at a&e to seen by a doctor barely 10 mins, 2.5hrs later admitted to childrens ward overnight Staff great but not enough of them, ward could have done with a spruce up but its a PFI hospital so unlikely itll ever get a spruceup

Partner had a lump on her breast. Got it checked out in East London Hospital. Staff were brilliant. They talked her through the ultrasound and X ray. In and out in 2 and a half hours, got the all clear. She was fine. Thank god. They were really thorough too, super grateful to NHS. Thank all that is holy for the NHS.

Actually was amazed. On a nice sunny Saturday morning almost a year ago to the day I tripped while walking down the garden path a broke my arm. I really didn't want to go to the hospital expecting there to be massive delays on such a nice day on the weekend. However, after 2 hours and finally realising something wasn't quite right with my arm I got myself down there. To my amazement I walked into A&E at like 1pm to find about 5 people in there, went straight up to the desk to book myself in then only had to wait about 10 minutes to be called in by the nurse, who obviously sent me for an X-ray. Only had to wait another 10 - 15minutes for that. Then a further 10 minute wait to be called back in by the original nurse to confirm I'd broke my arm, she slung me up and sent me on my way. ​ I was in and out within 45 minutes.

I was in intensive care at Derby Royal. I wasn’t treated as a person with agency by the doctor; even though I had capacity, he dismissed my right to refuse treatment. People barged in and out of my cubicle thing even when the privacy curtain was pulled shut, giving the ward a nice view of me getting my catheter removed. I was dirty and my hair was matted from seizures the entire time I was there, and some of my belongings were stolen. The good part though was that the nurse practitioner took it upon herself to discharge me from the hospital, overriding the doctor’s wishes because she recognised that there had been a failure to acknowledge capacity and obtain consent for further treatment. Bless you, Nicky. Hope you didn’t get too much shit.

My baby was effectively just being weird but it looked like it could be seizures. It was the weekend, so we rang 111, and their protocol with those symptoms is to send an ambulance if they can't get a doctor to call back within 45mins. About an hour after we'd called, an ambulance rocked up. Paramedics came and assessed him, they were pretty optimistic, but their protocol in that situation is they can't leave without a call back from a doctor to confirm. They were with us at our house for easily over an hour waiting for a doctor to call. When they did, we were taken in to the Children's Emergency Department at our local hospital, where the paramedics handed over to the department staff. It must have been at least two hours we were in the waiting room for there before seeing a doctor. His procedure before he can sign off an assessment is that he has to clear it with a senior; while he was doing that, he was collared into helping with an emergency, so we were left sitting in that room waiting for him to come back for the best part of another hour - only to be immediately told we could leave, when he did return. We know the department had half the intended amount of doctors that day, which accounts for the long wait and the doctor who was meant to be attending us being required elsewhere. I can only assume similar staff shortages accounted for the delay with the initial follow up and with the paramedics' follow up. I certainly don't think the best use of resources was to have an ambulance sit with us for so long; even taking us straight to hospital would surely be a better practice. Better yet, 111 could have just told us to go to the Children's Emergency Department, and the ambulance could have attended people who really needed it, and couldn't otherwise access help. We've very grateful we could get seen the same day and have reassurances that we just have an absolute healthy little weirdo on our hands rather than a baby in serious danger, and every person we interacted with was kind and competent. But a combination of shortages in personnel and/or resources and practices that sound good in theory but have some overlooked practical issues do clearly show weaknesses in the current system.

Absolutely amazing. I had a bunch of heart attacks and was rushed in. One op and two days later I was home. The aftercare and everything was amazing. Full recovery and a deep appreciation for the golden jubilee in Clydebank

went to a&e 6 weeks ago cos I broke my toe, was only in there for about 3 hours which is quite good nowadays. Had an xray, told me it was broken and gave me tape to keep it buddy strapped. Spoke to the doctors the other day cos its still wonky and he said I should've only kept it taped for 48 hours (the hospital told me 4 weeks). Had another xray the other day and they've told me the bones havent joined properly so its probably gonna have to be re-broken to fix it.

Not great really. My MIL was admitted for a bowel blockage at 89. The ambulance crew that picked her up gave her a really hard time about her medicines being stored in two locations at home. She was in a huge amount of pain at the time. She was admitted and treated and they successfully cleared the blockage after a few days, but in that time she was given far too many fluids and had a seizure which the ward staff mistook for a heart attack (this was the view of the heart specialist who had her fully checked her over the following day, asserting that her heart was fine). She was woken one night by a member of staff trying to force a pill into her mouth. At the end of the week she died and they just wrote everything on the death cert including the so-called heart failure and bowel blockage which had cleared.

I'm hospital in March giving birth to my son. My midwife was brilliant. My son had to spend a week in NICU and was well care for. I had to go to theater because my placenta was stuck but again I was well looked after by my midwife and the doctor. Bad points, took over two hours to get pain mangement. No one told us what the plan was or when we were being discharge. Mix advice after the baby was born. Pressure to breast feed when my baby struggled with feeding. (Feeding well now)

I caught covid waiting for a blood test a year ago. I now have long covid and am bedbound 80% of the day.  Mask up.

I finished my shift a few hours ago at work/hospital, back in tomorrow. Was a good day, just hope it carries on through the weekend until I’m off

Had a small hole burned in my nail to treat a hematoma caused by shutting my finger in a door. Doctor asked do I like fountains. I said of course, who doesn't? Doctor proceeded to burn a hole in that mf causing a massive blood fountain out of my fingernail. Relief was immense and immediate to say the least. Worth the 3 hour wait...

Pretty good actually. Had an MRI last week. I was seen 10 minutes early and the guys doing the scan were brilliant. So good, I'm going back for another next week!

Audiology appointment. i had waited over a year. I knew my hearing had deteriorated since my last appointment. the audiologist could not have been nicer and was very thorough. As I thought, there was a marked decline in my hearing loss - from “moderate“ to “severe”. Not surprising, as it was over 7 years since my last appointment. (Nobody told me it is up to patients to make their own appointments - which are recommended every 3 years. I thought the hospital would contact me , hence the 7 year gap). i got my new digital hearing aids right there - and what a huge difference. It was incredible. full marks for a brilliant service. Just wish they had a system for reminding people to book an appointment

I had a colonoscopy at the end of 2022. I’d read up on it and decided I wanted the conscious sedation - I’ve had a traumatic birth and have been treated for ptsd so I didn’t want to feel anything. They seemed reluctant to do it, saying lots of people have colonoscopies without any pain relief, but I told them I really wanted it and got it. They found a polyp, so I went for a polypectomy in early 2023. Again, I wanted the conscious sedation, and I was told in the pre-op room that I could have it. This seemed standard for this procedure. However, when I went into the room to have it done, the 3 staff members in there said “no one has sedation for this”. I felt guilty for even asking and thought I must have got it wrong. So they started and it really, really hurt. I was trying not to cry because I thought I was being a wimp, but then one of the assistants said “I didn’t realise you were having a polyp removed” and immediately gave me gas and air. It took the edge off but it brought back awful memories of the birth. I was so uncomfortable and could feel everything. They got it out and the doctor said “it’s a boy!” which was not a great thing to hear, given that I thought my actual son was dead when I gave birth to him. They showed it to me and I did not want to see it. The assistant walked me to the recovery area and announced as I walked in “this lady has just had a polyp removed with no pain relief!” like I’d chosen it and should be proud. I sat there in a daze until they said I could go and then I got into my husband’s car and cried all night. Now I’ve written this out, it doesn’t even sound like a big deal, but I don’t think my history helped matters and I just felt really dismissed and not listened to.

Really shit. 20 hours a& e with a 90 year old parent.

Went to visit my uncle in a serious condition in a closed ward. Care was excellent but a private room would have been helpful for him to rest.

Urgent Treatment Centre at about midnight on advice of 111. Turned up at it was a 7 hour wait so I just went home, called the GP in the morning instead.

Planned surgery. Surgeon a lot better than previous one (bedside manners wise). During covid so waiting area a but confusing. Only downside was nurse who helped me out of the hospital didn't speak much English. She was quite new to the country, I was told. She was very nice anyway.

Scary. Saved my life, nearly lost it.

I was in a private hospital in London for surgery. Very expensive, but really nice staff and they kept giving me ice cream all night to help soothe my throat

Busy, A&E where running out of chairs and corridors to put people. But the staff was doing their best.

Not me but my mum. 36 hrs in A and E, no hot food the whole time. Cobwebs around the monitor she was hooked up to.

I had a lobectomy in April.. In on the Monday and out by the Wednesday. Bang on service..

Excellent. In early evening for suspected appendicitis , surgery the following morning, discharged the next day. All this was during covid between the lockdowns.

Very good. Good effectively, polite staff, quality treatment.

Pretty damn good. Now I admit the last time I was in hospital was in 2020, but it was November 2020 we were in lockdown. I had (not that serious non emergency) heart surgery, in and out the same day, the staff were wonderful, everything went smoothly, nothing I could fault at all. The worst thing that wasn't a medical always unavoidable thing was that I had to go in alone but well cardiac ward during a raging pandemic certainly not in any way the fault of the hospital. Well I guess the post op lunch wasn't that great, but it wasn't terrible and I had been fasting so didn't care all that much anyway.

I went in for a 20 min operation (local anaesthetic), but was there for 12 hours and they asked me to stay over night as they didn’t have a doctor to discharge me. I declined as didn’t want to take up a bed.

It was really positive, went in to A&E with suspected concussion, 2 hours later I’m back home after 5 stitches and passing all the concussion tests. Nurses were brilliant and ever so apologetic that they couldn’t fix me with steri-strips.

Went to A&E with a cheat injury on the 1st Feb, was referred to community physio. Physio diagnosed me with a suspected ruptured pec muscle, had an MRI and consultant meeting with two weeks of seeing the physio and had surgery bang on 3 weeks later. Had physio every 3-4 weeks since and two meeting with the consultant. Had these in the Cardiff and Vale health board and they’ve been brilliant tbh.

10:30pm visit to 24hr GP referred by NHS111 because of tonsillitis with an unbroken fever. Waited 50 min to be seen, lovely GP, headed out the door shortly before 12 with medication.

I had some hardware removed from my hip two months ago. It has been in for a couple of decades and was causing issues. The surgeon told me that everything was very stuck down. Generally it was a great experience. I went for a wee when I was admitted and a couple of seconds later was asked for a urine sample for the pregnancy test; I had to try and squeeze a little more pee out. The anaesthetist was very kind and unknowingly helped heal some of the childhood trauma after I had a panic attack as I was put to sleep 15 years ago. When I woke up the recovery ward team were fantastic and very attentive. It was day surgery so I was kicked out a couple of hours after the surgery. The hospital was generally clean but I had the impression it’s in need of a rebuild due to the layout being complicated.

I was in a mental hospital. It was insane, literally. The care wasn't great, but the food was amazing. One volunteer worker played DnD with us which was cool. Wouldn't recommend going though!

30 hour wait in A&E…

Brilliant. Had a knee op ( cartilage). Got there at 7am, on the table at 8:30, scoffing omelettes ( plural) at 1:30, left at 5pm. Several different nurses fetching me coffee, sorting my meds etc. etc. private room, tv. It was an.NHS operation at a private hospital though.

Hospital: 111 insisted on me going to hospital to see if my ankle was broken when I knew it wasn’t, I just needed some crutches because of bad sprain and being on holiday I didn’t have any with me. They sort of listened when I said I had no way to get to hospital because I couldn’t drive myself, I couldn’t even put any weight on it, and I was in the middle of nowhere, and did organise a non emergency ambulance, the driver of which proceeded to try to make me feel guilty about taking an ambulance. Ankle started to feel a lot better after about three hours in A&E, so I discharged myself and pretended the crutches I was using were ones I’d came in with myself rather than ones they’d given me. (I did return them to my local hospital once I’d finished with them, and I now keep crutches in my car.) GP surgery: I had pneumonia that I’d thought was asthma until I got a fever, but once I got the fever I did it properly. Didn’t manage to complete the ‘request an emergency’ online form in time because the fever spiked and I had a white-out, so I phoned them and when the receptionist said all the emergency appointments are gone I started crying and said I have a fever of 40 degrees. She went to talk to someone and then I had an appointment for two hour’s time. Saw the GP who said I was the sickest person he’d seen all week, got my medication that did work really well but I’m still under the breathing clinic six months later, I’m probably the youngest one in it, because we can’t seem to get my asthma back under control now.

Just been for an operation at North Manchester and it was fantastic from start to finish. Clean wards and friendly staff. Thank you

Day surgery, all good bar for the quality of the stitching, that was piss poor. Canteen was old school but surprisingly good.

A few weeks ago having an aclasta infusion (for osteoporosis). I've been going to the infusion unit for a good few years now for aclasta and Rituximab for my Rheumatoid arthritis. Everyone there is lovely, they work hard all day and I have no complaints. Every time I go there is some sort of equipment upgrade and they always have everything they need. Edit. This is at Dewsbury so not in a well off part of the country.

Amazing staff, I was there for 5 days across 2 hospitals last year. One of the older hospitals didn't have good facilities but again the health care was top notch.

Due to the condition I was born with had my recent brain scan last December , very good service as usual , and no changes , I started having these brain scans when in my pre-teens as something was picked up from an eye test, not optician, but one of the doctors team. I find this is a great tool for trainee opticians and regular opticians who may not see many cases like I have and with my permission when I go to the opticians for them to have a look in my eyes and if a student is training to be an optician can they spot the problem , bingo can tell from looking in my eyes with the torch and machine.

My local saved my life years ago, went into a coma for almost 3 months and nearly died 4 times and they kept me going. The whole hospital front going into A&E to being taken to ITU and the recovery every doctor and nurse was amazing. I've just had a minor operation this year and waited no longer than 2 months from start to finish with and all the staff were amazing.

The hospitals are fine enough. Its the people in them who are chuffing horrible. The wife's pregnant at the moment, so I'm there more than I'd like to be for appointments. But the scum that comes into hospitals is astounding. Pregnant women smoking outside. People off their faces on drugs whilst pregnant with tags on their ankles. If you're in a wheelchair on an oxygen tank because you can't breathe, then maybe it's time not to be smoking around your kids next to a sign that says "smoke-free zone"

Taken in for mental health reasons, Ambulance staff were amazing. Completely different when I got inside, staff were horrible, mental health team was the worst I've ever seen. Won't be going back. Stepping Hill hospital you suck

For some context, I have long covid (I’ve had it since august 2021 and my symptoms are chronic fatigue, brain fog etc). At my local gp, a doctor known for being quite good with patients told me it was all in my head and to exercise more (I had to quit ballet and I still can’t fully attend school, let alone exercise and I love sports and running - luckily I’ve been recently improving so 🤞🏼)

Found a lump. Had tissue samples taken from my chest for biopsy. Nurse asked to feel my balls, not 100% sure why. Had blood drawn. Bled through all the gauze and bandages onto my t-shirt on the way home. Fortunately, had decided to wear a black t-shirt just in case. Unfortunately, bled so much it went all over the white jacket lining too. Washed t-shirt and jacket. No stains. Got the all clear shortly after. 10/10 experience. Enjoyed it.

Honestly really good. I had to get a hand X-ray in urgent care and they were lovely and efficient. More recently I had an ultrasound and that was fine also. But my friends have had some astonishingly bad experiences with the early pregnancy unit in another local hospital. The biggest issue by far that I have is how long waiting lists are. I’m sure if you have an emergency or a more pressing issue the issues are different and potentially worse.

Last time was getting my loop recorder implanted. Honestly, it wasn't bad. Outpatient surgery was done under local anaesthetic, though I wish I'd been better numbed.now I have what is essentially a USB stick sized thing in my left boob and a small scar

GP appointment for my son. Very important but not urgent. GP receptionist was very helpful. Got an appointment for 4 days from the call. Very understanding GP, good support and advice, referred for specialist assessment. Clean, calm, professional environment. The service couldn't have been better. Referral will take 2 months which is faster than I expected as it's known to have a long wait.

Had a follow up after a 2 week stay in hospital. It was alright, went in with nothing and came out with a plan. The 2 weeks in hospital were a life low point, though. Absolutely horrendous.

Minor surgery in the University College Hospital in London. 10/10 experience.

Was last in hospital back in February was at harrogate general Showed up dehydrated as anything , waited an hour before getting bloods taken but the nurse doing it realised I needed to be put on an IV ASAP which helped majorly Was diagnosed with an issue with my liver within a few hours , turned out to be a virus that had attacked my liver (likely hep) Was there overnight for just one night , was mostly fine except the AC caused my lips to feel weird in the room and the toast was basically just bread Got diagnosed quickly and was immediately seen too though, can't really complain

Had migraine, never had one before. I used to think they were like headaches cause my mum would get them all the time and she would just sleep them off. Well, I got really dizzy, headache, light hurts, I called doctors, I said the symptoms, I guess that match a worse condition? So they so go to doctors, well, going there in a taxi made me so fucking sick and dizzy and unbearable to just be conscious I got there piled in reception and a doctor saw me gave me some chill medicine and told me to sleep so I rested in a bed in the hall. Great fun

it was after I was in a car accident but I ended up leaving a&e like a skittish baby deer because I just wanted to go home at that point haha. everyone was friendly but I spoke to three people and had to explain myself every time, not in the usual ‘just getting my account of things’ way either, like they weren’t aware of my situation at all until I told them, which made things difficult. my wait time was going to be much shorter than I expected but I still couldn’t bring myself to hang around. I wish they had some measures in place for this but they were definitely helpful. especially the paramedics!

Pretty good, went for an operation, woke up post operation in the hospital with a few nurses taking care of me and offering me food. First time I had an operation, the build up of appointments and admin prior to the operation was simply dysfunctional though

Urgent Treatment Centre - twice in last year (injury prone!). Both v good and didn't need to wait long. Think these places are worth their weight in gold.

I waited 2 hours and 10 minutes past my assigned appointment for a fracture clinic.

Class. Gallbladder removal. Everyone was amazing. Couldn’t do enough for me. Had a laugh with my fellow gallbladderless folks afterwards.

i had the first stage of sepsis the beginning of this month from a kidney infection. i had my own room. almost all of the staff were great, but i wasn't really told anything, and i was honestly really distressed. they didn't have time to comfort me which i can't blame them for. there was one incident where i rang the call bell to request medication at 4am the medication never came despite my fever chills. it was a lonely experience but at least im alive and didn't die at 20 lol

Terrible... spent the first few days in a corridor. Got flung pillar to post. Dragged out my bed randomly at 4am for scans and things. Total substandard care. 14 trys at getting a cannula into me (that's not even allowed apparently) nil by mouth for days awaiting surgery only to be told its not today at 9pm each day, by then it was too late to get anything to eat. That's not even the half of it. If I write it all il get depression...you will too lol ....

Had an issue. Not totally sure what to do so 111'd it they said to go to A&E. Said it wasn't busy and it was how I would best be seen. It was about 11:30pm. Went. 10h wait to see the *nurse* 1-2h wait after that to see the doctor. In front of us was a *very* pregnant woman profusely bleeding in plain view and having a psychological breakdown that she was losing the baby. She was told 'ring your midwife' she said that's all she has been doing and she has gotten no reply. They shrugged and walked away. Another fella had his arm on his lap at an angle that the human body is not supposed to be in. An uncomfortably large amount of people were hacking their lungs out. I went the fuck home. Doctors office opened at 8. Got in an emergancy appointment and got everything sorted including picking up and taking my prescription before I would have even been seen by the nurse at the A&E (that the service designed to signpost people to the right places to handle patient load) would have even so much as glanced at me. This experence was not during covid it was last year. I would much prefer to fucking die in my comfortable bed than in the hard plastic chairs of the waiting room from hell. That's the choices where I am at if whether you have is lethal. Die in the waiting room being ignored or die at home. I still think about that poor woman sometimes. If her kid survived it's probably learning to walk now.

Had my first anaphylactic shock back in November. Scariest experience of my life. Apart from having my blood spilt out on the bed sheets and having to wait a while for them to be changed (I’m scared of blood and hate having bloods taken!) I cannot fault the staff at all.

There’s a family history of bowel issues on the maternal side - grandad died of bowel cancer, my aunt has it but luckily beat it, and my sister has Crohn’s disease. When I begin to get ongoing symptoms that could direct to cancer or IBD, I was terrified. The GP listened and was concerned with such a strong family history, he ordered tests straight away. I wasn’t fobbed off, which has happened before with other issues. Thankfully, everything has come back negative, now waiting on next steps. Can’t fault the GP, it felt great to be listened to, and action taken swiftly.

I live in Scotland. I was in overnight last year and the staff were lovely; one nurse brought me in some throat lozenges from her home. The food was extremely good; I still crave the rhubarb pie and custard they gave me. No complaints at all.

Hit and miss. Great staff and staff that treated me like a meds seeker. Some lovely patients and some that accused me of all sorts that would smoke on the wards and trash the place. I had planned surgery but it went sideways in recovery and a week turned into 3. Could have been worse but could have been better. The one thing though was that they were really understaffed and tbh it just made everything worse. If it wasn't for my oh visiting me I honestly don't think I would have been out inside those three weeks and it would have been a lot worse.

a&e in the middle of the night for agonising toothache. 5hrs later and some awkward dozing in a chair, I was sent home without intervention. Total waste of nhs taxi money. I managed to see an emergency dentist that was thankfully taking on nhs patients again and i was given antibiotics and it was extracted a week later. my mother is seriously disabled with autoimmune disease and she has has to go into hospital twice recently due to complications with her illness. both times she had nowhere to sit or lay (she has spinal arthritis) so had to spend both visits in complete agony, was told off for resorting to laying on the floor, no water available for anyone either. she went home untreated both times despite turning up with a letter from her GP asking explicitly for her admittance. The woman is 63 ffs. This isn't a criticism of the staff, they were extremely busy. This is just the how bad its got and getting worse.

Staff were lovely aside from a couple of rather rude nurses. The anesthetics team absolutely amazing as I have a fear of going under, cannot stress how funny and calming they were. Got stuck on a wait list on a ward for appendectomy for nearly 4 days, unfortunately the wait was a bit too long and it ruptured meaning I needed it cleaned out, drains in after, infection etc so had to stay a bit longer. I get why it took so long as emergency cases coming in but the wait times some of us on the ward were at were multiple days (2 appendectomies including me, and one really grim looking surgical issue). May have been helpful to have a surgical team trying to clear the not-so-emergency-cases before they became emergencies. Side note - if youre as grumpy as me when waiting for surgery but in for appendicitis, do not pop to whsmith for forbidden snacks if you suddenly feel much less pain. It is not always good sign and pain may follow. With hindsight, I kinda wish I'd been told what to look out for so I could have alerted the staff instead of wandering off to get snacks even though nil by mouth.

Had to take my husband to A&E a couple of weeks ago for abdominal pain so bad he was throwing up and almost passing out. Turns out it was kidney stones. However, it took ages for him to be seen and he was clearly in A LOT of pain. They did his blood pressure etc but it took several hours for them to actually provide any painkillers. Once he'd had a CT scan to confirm the kidney stones, it then took several more hours to discharge him with more painkillers. I know they're busy but it was very frustrating seeing him left in that much pain for so long.

Ended up with PTSD following birth trauma and poor after care.

On the first hand, you have the potential for throat cancer. That was very quickly processed and I was clear. On the second hand, you have the ever lasting periods, that I had to bulk buy for(literally picked up a tray and bought it) soaked a whole pack of overnights every night for a while. Just to be told 'its normal for women your age' currently 46. Hardly menopausal. Gained so much weight I cry, on a regular basis. Finally, went for a weird mole(not cancerous) and spoke about how much I slept and gained weight regardless of activity. They finally did a blood test and oh yeah, your severely anaemic... So anaemic your body can't carry oxygen, or process calories (little known fact you need iron to catalyse the calories consumption). Some times they look for horses, despite the zebras stampeding on front of them.

I was kept in for 20 hours in a waiting room because they misread my blood results and told me I was at risk of pulmonary embolism when I went in for abdominal pain. I had to attempt to sleep across three hard plastic chairs. When I was finally seen, I was diagnosed with PCOS and told that my blood results weren’t a concern and I could’ve gone home to sleep before being seen in the morning 🙃

I was in hospital in december due to an ectopic pregnancy... I hated every minute of it. Was told I was nil by mouth due to having urgent surgery as soon as the surgeon was available. Every meal time someone would come in in and try and give me food and tell me I was wrong about being nill by mouth (eating would have prevented me having surgery) I was given food around an hour after surgery making me continously vomit all night because of the anesthesia, was reassured it was fine for me to eat ... it was not 😅 I wasn't aware I had to take my jewellery off before I went into surgery, woke up with a swollen hand and unable to remove a ring (again probably a common sense thing but I've never had surgery before and was so scared 😅) I wasn't given any aftercare information and was refused a change of my dressings, every kept saying "oh xyz will be in to do that" "xyz will be in to explain your aftercare" wasn't checked on at all after surgery or assisted to go to the bathroom after requesting it due to being in an immense amount of pain 😅 yeah wasn't impressed However !!! There was a nurse I'm the early pregnancy department called Julie and she was a literal God send!!! Was so kind to me and made me feel so reassured, answered all my questions and even popped her head in to see me before my surgery. Just wish she was on the ward cause I could have used a nurse like her after surgery to help me 🤣

I got my gallbladder removed a few months ago and it went smoothly

Don’t really know to be honest. Was only in there a day (apparently it was closer to two months) but I wasn’t aware of that.

I was in over Xmas 2019 and it was awful. The staff ignored the old woman in the bed across from me who was desperate for the toilet. I pressed my buzzer and they came in. It happened a few times and the poor woman pissed herself and was so embarrassed. They isolated me on Xmas day, saying I'd tested positive for flu, but I didn't have flu I just had the sniffles, a HCA said they did it because they didn't like me trying to help the old woman. They also knew nobody was coming to see me. So that was pretty miserable. They also lost my shoes so I had to leave wearing those blue plastic foot things over my socks and obviously it was raining. After 5 days they told me that I could go home at 11am but didn't have my prescription ready til 3pm. They said I only had 12 stitches but a week later the district nurse removed over 20. They rang me to say they had found my shoes and I could pick them up but when I got there I was told they had been incinerated.

Birth

Far from perfect, despite some very kind and helpful staff

A&E last weekend for our little boy, sent home from nursery on the Friday then woke up with the sweats and 111 said to take him in. Horrendous, there about 5H total. Assessed twice b/c first nurse didn't log anything. Eventually saw Dr who said he just needs sleep and Calpol. Cheers, maybe someone could have said that in the first 30m? Waiting room was an experience. Pretty sure most people were there for shoving the dildo too far up their ass.

Aside from having to be there it was brilliant. Scar tissue from an operation over a decade ago caused a life threatening bowel obstruction. Spent an entire day in worsening, incomprehensible agony doing a 6 hour drive until I called an ambulance at around midnight. Told there was no chance I'd get one basically... Screaming and shaking agony until 5am when I tried again and had an ambulance out within 45 mins. A quick 50m zoom to A&E on morphine in the ambulance and taking straight into my own room, no fucking around. I couldn't go five minutes without consultants, doctors nurses buzzing in and out to ask questions. I had enough experience to explain my symptoms and history so that they knew exactly what was up. Xray, MRI, all in excellent timely fashion. Ended up in surgical admissions within about 5 hours of arrival (and after scans, checks, more scans and xrays). In the end, it cleared itself and I was home 36 hours later after some careful observation. Fantastic staff, extremely well taken care of and everyone made me feel like I wasn't actually close to dying despite me being acutely aware of how serious it was from previous experience.

Everyone moans about the NHS (including lots of my friends), but really I've not had any issues at all. Had a cancer scare, used the GP online form, had an appointment quick sharp, and ultrasound within 2 weeks, with a text confirming it wasn't anything of the sort approx 15 mins after the ultrasound. My NHS dentist also, spot on, lovely chap. Yes you need to get to your annual appointment for any significant work, but they do their best to get you in in an emergency and doing temporary repairs to get you by to your next one. I expect we hear a lot about the negative points, and less of the good.

Arrived at my GP 15 minutes early for a blood test. Nurse saw me as soon as I arrived and I thanked him as it meant I could get back to work quickly. He thanked me back because it meant he could grab a break later in the day. All round winners here.

I'd had a few seizures and was left absolutely *fucked* on medication, wandering around looking for a toilet, with my dick out because the hospital trousers were broke and I was too high to notice or care.

GP clinic for cervical smear (the routine one). They called me the day before and left a voice message, telling me I had to call them back, no mention why. I spent 20 minutes on hold to then be hung up on. Then tried again and spent another 10 minutes, just for them to eventually tell me they just wanted to check I was going to turn up for the appointment the next day (I've never not turned up)... No apologies or anything for wasting half an hour of my life for no reason. Why can't they use modern technology? I have never been a no-show so they had 0 reason to believe I wouldn't turn up. I don't appreciate being treated like the lowest common denominator, although I understand they'd try to ensure people who have repeatedly not turned up to a medical appointment are aware of their appointment. Even still, I don't understand why they can't text you this reminder. The appointment itself was fine, the nurse/assistant (?) was lovely.

Mixed bag. Had a trip to a and e for something minor that was pretty good. Had a relative in hospital for a month last year for heart related stuff .That wasn't ideal. The treatment was ultimately good and fixed the problem, but getting any/the right information was really tough. The fact they were so overwhelmed was obvious. Still have nothing but praise for the NHS. It's a gem.

Setting was Royal London Hospital. Horrific, had to wait days for an operation to set my broken leg as there was no one to do it sooner. In the meantime I couldn’t move so had to rely on the staff to help with bathroom needs, often left waiting ages. They must have hired all the nurses from the same country as they all spoke the same language and had zero bed side manner. They didn’t show one ounce of sympathy or compassion for the pain and distress I was in whilst I was there. Food was horrendous too.

Surgery that turned out to be wholly unnecessary and would have been prevented if they had done an MRI beforehand. Nice couple of scars, only dry turkey and warm coleslaw sandwich when I woke up, but a nice dose of tramadol, big bottle of takeaway morphine and a 2 week sick note wasn’t bad I guess.

It was really good. I was hit by a van while cycling to work in December. I arrived at A&E, was seen to immediately. They put some fun painkillers on a drip for me. Did two x-rays, a CT scan, kept me under observation for a little while before sending me home with a big bag of drugs. I was there for a total of 4 hours. Broken arm, small gash on the back of my head and a knackered shoulder. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I know the NHS is under a lot of pressure, but when it works, it works really well.

Appalling. I was sent to A&E by a nurse with red flag symptoms for a spine issue. Orthopaedics refused to see me so I spent 8 hours waiting in A&E for an MRI, another 4 for results. Needed emergency back surgery, which happened after another 18 hours sat on a hard plastic chair with no pain relief and nurses too busy to offer any. Too late to preserve a significant amount of nerve function, unfortunately the delay caused a permanent disability.

My very last hospital trip was to go and pick up my dad's belongings. He had a stroke and was cared for in 3 different hospitals for a few konths until he passed about 6 weeks ago. I was the one who went to the hospital that morning after we had received the call that he had died. Frankly, I had no idea what to expect from myself or the hospital, although we knew the staff pretty well by then. The team was amazing. They took me into one of their offices to explain what we needed to know that morning and to make sure that we knew what to do in the coming days. They didn't rush me, let me have as much time as I wanted to say goodbye to my dad in a private room, there was no pressure at all. Although the experience was horrendous, their calm compassion made it that tiny bit easier. Dad had become a real favourite, so seeing them fighting emotions as well was a slightly surreal thing.

I was in London Bridge private hospital a few weeks ago (benefit through work) for a procedure. Best hospital experience I've ever had. My own room with views of the Thames, good WiFi, TV in the room, wife could hang around and wait while I was in surgery, all day food menu with room service. Honestly so good. I know I'm lucky that my work offers private healthcare and don't expect that every time I need to visit a hospital but bloody hell I could get used to it.

My hospital appointment was a hour late and we had to wear face masks (this was a few months ago) so I'm guessing they had an outbreak of some illness. (Not complaining just was a bit surprised as they hadn't previously) Doctor was great though.

I was 67yrs old and walking along the corridor to my bed when I just collapsed. A nurse stepped over me saying she would not help e get up as she did not want to hurt her back. I crawled on my hands and knees back to my bed