I'm not sure if I am allowed to do this from my hospital bed but to hell with it I'm going to. Last Sunday (29.3.15) I was admitted to derriford hospital for a double heart bypass operation not something I was looking forward to but something I definitely needed. On Monday very early I was up showered and dressed in my hospital gown, then the checks begin name, dob address. Into the pre op room putting in the lines to get the medication into me then Mr Allan the surgeon came in and made sure I was ok with what was happening, I said "yes fine the alternative is worse". Shortly before eight the world stopped mid sentence, I can't say what happened I was there in body but not mind. At about three in the afternoon I remember being told everything had gone fine and I was now in the Intensive Care Unit. The nurse fussed over me and from my drug induced pain relief I remember how she told me exactly what was going on. My wife and son came to see me and I must have been talking rubbish because one minute I was talking to Rayna the next to my son but they were sat in the same seat. The drugs are great a taking away the pain but they do strange things to your mind and you see so many funning things. I had to Stand up and march on the spot, deemed fit I was move into the next room The High Dependency Unit here I was to be until Wednesday morning. Here again the nurses were lovely they fussed over us made sure we took our meds and i can not speak highly enough of the care these people give. On Wednesday I had the chest drains removed which was painful and this is when they realised i had a chest infection, a very strong course of antiboitics was prescribed. Although fit enough to go up onto the normal ward "Clearbrook" i didn't feel to good and that night was the worse i have ever experienced. About three o'clock Thursday morning i was still awake and in great pain but once again the nurses were at my aid and although i did manage a couple of hours sleep i did awake feeling slightly better. As i felt better i started to notice that the nurses and carers on the ward were very busy all the time. I also noticed that some of the cleaners did not do a good job and were lack lustre about the way cleaning was done. As with all wards of this type people came and went so on Friday (Good Friday) there was a change around and three new patients came onto the ward. H who had diabetes, N who was struggling and had a very fast heart rate (103) and D who had a lung function of 40% and had had a aortic valve replacement. Although I felt much better i was still suffering with the chest infection and I have to admit I struggled at times. This was probably the same in all the bays of the ward as a large percentage had been through the same experience as me. By Saturday morning the problems seemed worse as D struggle with a heart rate of 197 and through the brilliant care of the nurse this was brought under control. H still had hourly checks for his diabetes whilst N was still not improving, the nurse never stopped and was the same throughout the day. This is when I started to walk a little and saw the notices below that showed that the nurses were short staffed on both the Saturday and Sunday of easter, no wonder they never stopped.
My question is that with a 50% reduction in staffing levels how can nurses cope with patients that still have great needs after such difficult operations. In the times of elections clear promises need to be made about the safe staffing levels on our hospital wards, just to bring in expensive temps should not be an option. I was discharged on Sunday and now at home making a slow recovery. So what have i learned.
1. I have the greatest RESPECT for the nurses, carers and doctors at Derriford Hospital they have given me the chance of 15 years of quality life.
2. Some of the SERCO cleaners are not good enough, except the young Plymouth maid who did the job above and beyond and was such a lovely person.
3. I am very proud to live in a country that has a NHS that cares for its residents.
4. Since 2001 there has been a 7/8% increase in population in this country equal to 5 million people, yet there has been no corresponding increase in NHS services. No wonder the staff and hospitals struggle.
5. Please support them
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