I have spent the last three weeks or so in a local hospital. I was fully prepared to write a little note here saying "I don't know why people complain about the NHS; I found the service fine". Unfortunately this wasn't my experience.
As far as I am able to tell the clinical service was very good but conditions on the ward were grim. Before becoming an inpatient I did not believe that places like this existed in 21st century UK. The first thing that struck me was the great variety of disgusting smells on the ward, and then the clutter of furniture and equipment clogging the corridor and the places between beds. After a few days the general disorganization and inefficiency became apparent; not surprising given the daily struggle to knit together a patchwork of ward staff and nurses from "Bank", "Pool" and "Agency" to maintain minimum staffing levels - and often failing. Overall the ward was a place of squalor and muddle.
The low point was the day I had a colonoscopy - a rather disagreeable experience. I was in a single ward at the time - the term "private ward" would not be appropriate as you will see - because the doctors were concerned that I might have an "exotic" (i.e. Turkish) infectious disease. I was taken to theatre in my own bed, crashing into the obstructions along the corridor. When the procedure was over I was looking forward to a quiet recovery back in my room. When we arrived outside the door one of the porter's said "We cannot take you back to your room". "What???". "There is a gentleman in there squatting in the middle of the room and is p*ssing all over the floor". I suppose I could have just shrugged this off as one of those things that happen but having just had a six foot pipe shoved up my backside I was a little irascible and had had enough. I demanded to be let out of bed, went to sit in the toilet for 10 minutes until things were sorted out, got dressed and escaped by a side door to go down to the pub for a pint.
I feel very sorry for the nurses who work hard to provide health care under these sorts of conditions.
