Every now and again, as part of my job, I have to visit Oldchurch hospital. The place scares me to death. Given that the job I am sent for is never pleasant ( harvesting donor organs from brain stem dead patients ) it surprises me how scary it is. I only ever go at night, when the theatres are quiet, but it without doubt the creepiest hospital I have ever seen at night. The staff scare me even more, and believe me after 10 years as a theatre nurse I have met some scary NHS staff! And why is it always Oldchurch? What do they do to their patients? I agree, NEVER, EVER go to Oldchurch Hospital.

I can tell you why it would always be Oldchurch...

Oldchurch is the area's Neurological unit, so if you have someone with a major head injury, they would be taken there. Consequently they are more likely to have brain dead patients.

It's one of those things that can make a hospital look bad - speciality units which have a high death rate can drag down a hospitals rating.

Of course, I dislike Oldchurch for a much better reason - they can make an ambulance look after a patient for 8 hours before accepting a handover - something I'll be posting about shortly.

My dad has just left NGH having spent the last 4 months there being treated for myeloma. We were in Beckton Ward. If anyone offered to cut off my left hand to delete the experience from my mind, I'd be sharpening the knife. He spent some time in Intensive and also in CCU. The difference is absurd. The staff at ITU were highly skilled, and impeccably mannered. They knew exaclty what they were doing and they were very informative. Pretty much the same went for CCU. Beckton... oh Beckton. Almost all the staff acted as though they were having the worst day of their lives (having said that, sadly they may have been). Generally speaking, we are a patient, polite family. They were ridiculously rude, and almost always without reason. It saddened me to see how many patients they ignored and snubbed. I couldn't believe how filthy the ward was, at all times. Without rambling on, in short, I was appalled. Of course, there were one or two staff members who were great, and always cheery and helpful. The charge nurse in particular was fantastic - I didn't think he deserved to be in such a terrible ward. He was the saving grace.

It is sadly very true, that the quality of the nursing staff (even if it is just how they relate with the patients and relatives) can make all the difference in how you see a hospital.

The only defence that I can think of, would be that the number of nurses for each patient is higher in CCU and ITU, while in the more general wards the nurses have to look after more patients, and therefore have less time to be nice, or even less time to actually do the 'caring' that seems to have been forgotten from the nurses job description.

And the filth in the ward...well there is no arguement there - but this is what happens when you employ people for a minimum wage to o a job that is _essential_ to the well being of the patients and the hospital.

I think I know which Charge nurse you are talking about, and he is a nice bloke - always friendly if we do a transfer, and normally well on top of things.

Have you let the hospital know your concerns? It might (hah!) shake a few cobwebs loose...

Best wishes for your dad,

-Tom

Newham General Hospital is a slur on the words "health care". The hospital is dirty, staffed by no-hopers and clinically obscene in what they miss, let alone negligent.

Half the muscles in my body have never worked and the orthopaedic department said there was nothing wrong with me, even after an MRI scan of my neck. The physio's said I "just had to stand up striaight". A trip to the chiropracter and he pointed out that my neck at C1/C2 is bent back on itself 90 degrees and twisted to the right 90 degrees comprimising the spinal chord and stopping the muscles functioning. Many major muscle groups in the back and riht side of my body were compimised inluding the Glut max, Psoas and trapezius. My breathing was just a little fucked too as the diaphragm was making up for the losses. The recovery is slow and difficult but happening.

Newham "University" hospital as it has been renamed in aid of the 2012 Olympic bid should be closed down.

Matthew http://www.freedomforall.net