Waterford Regional Hospital

fitzyshea

Having recently had the misfortune to have stayed in WRH for 2 nights Im just wondering what people make of the hospital and its service to the public? I stayed here for 2 nights and while I found the nurses and doctors to be excellent but very very busy I found the hospital itself to be a dirty filty place. The ward I stayed in was cleaned once a day but when i say cleaned I mean the floor was mopped. There was no dusting or cleaning of the furniture or the bathrooms. I stayed in St. Lukes in Kilkenny the previous 2 days before that and found Lukes to be spotless for an older hospital. Everything was lceaned and also the food was alot better. When I was in WRH I felt I would end up with MRSA even if the staff washed there hands everytime. I personally would hope that I dont end up in it again. So what do you think of the hospital?

Paddy@CIRL

Anyone I know has been told that God forbid, if anything happens to me, send me to Cork. Under no circumstances am I to sent to Ardkeen !

fricatus

I was in overnight for minor surgery in August. When I was admitted, I was plonked sitting in a chair next to a bed that had yet to be made up. You could see where bodily fluids had got. Worse, a guy there told me someone had died in that bed overnight. Just what you want to hear...

Now I know they removed the mattress (because it was a different one) before they made it up for me, and my bed turned out to be spotless, but that initial introduction was awfully off-putting. I mean, La Boheme would not seat you at a table that had just been vacated and clean it while you sat there! They'd sit you in a waiting area and only move you to your table when you could see no evidence of previous occupancy!

In fairness though, the place was clean as far as I could see, and the staff were absolutely magnificent. The doctors and anaesthetists bringing me to the operating room were great craic, making me feel relaxed, while at the same time giving off an air of sheer professionalism in what they were doing.

When I woke up during the night, the nurses gave me great attention, feeding me water when I needed it (I couldn't move) and chatting to me for 10 minutes here and there during quiet periods, rather than nattering among themselves.

10/10 for medical personnel - professionalism coupled with personal warmth, you can't beat it
7/10 for cleanliness
2/10 for making a good initial impression

fitzyshea

When I was there I was in a male ward and for the whole night the nurse never came into the ward. There was an old guy next to me and for most of the night he was talking to himself and crying. Think he was a bit out of it. Rang the bell a few times but no answer. So got out of the bed and went in search of a nurse. When I found one she said hes like that everynight, we cant do anything for him, but I can give you a sleeping pill if you want. Needless to say I took the pill. it seems to me that they dont have enough staff on the wards at night. HSE cutbacks??

wellboy1976

A girl working with me was sitting outside the ICU last week waiting to go in and said girls from the offices were walking in and out for hours with folders and not one of the filthy wans washed their hands once.

echosound

I personally get the impression they have gotten their act together a bit more in recent times.

I had to attend A&E a few years back with a broken nose and I had nothing but bad to say about the place after my experience there - sitting for 5 hours in A&E, the toilets were filthy - jelly-like yellow bile type puke all over the floor, not cleaned in the 5 hours I was waiting, no toilet paper to be had, and when I asked for some paper towels (as my nose was bleeding and my clothes were getting covered in blood, not to mention the floor) I got none, my other half had to go to the shop to buy tissues for me.

The cubicle I was eventually seen in was filthy - an open bucket for sharps (ie used needles) beside me on the bedside locker, dried bloodspots on the floor and on the bed I was sitting on, obviously left there for ages and not cleaned. The doc looked at my nose (A physio had clicked it back into place and put butterfly clips on it before I attended A&E for xrays) and did nothing, not even clean it up a bit, just gave me a prescription for painkillers and a tetanus injection. The injection left me with an infection around the site of the injection, a rugby ball sized lump on my rump, which I had to attend my own doctor for later, for 3 rounds of antibiotics to clear up. I am convinved it was due to lack of hygiene while giving the injection that left the infection, which my doc also agreed with.

So - after that, I had nothing but bad impressions of the hospital and vowed not to darken their door again. However, I had to have a minor op very recently, and very reluctantly had to be admitted to WRH.

My experience could not have been more different - I have commented to family about the regularity of their cleaning in comparison to my previous experiences there, while I was there for the 2 days, a number of cleaners came round each day, mopping floors, dusting the curtain rails, cleaning the toilet, etc. OK, not everything was cleaned down - my bedtray thing wasn't cleaned, countertop of bedside locker not cleaned, etc, which I thought would have been a standard thing to do, but in general it was a vast improvement on my previous experience. The staff were very good (I was on the gynae ward) and the nurses couldn't have been nicer and more helpful, checking up on me and making sure I was comfortable, offering drinks/food at regular intervals in between meals, giving me painkillers and hotpacks etc. The sugical staff were also very professional and friendly, chatting and joking to put me at ease while still doing their job perfectly.

So my impressions at the moment are this - they do seem to be trying harder than before, WRT cleaning, but still could do a bit better in all honesty. It's a hospital after all, full of ill people, many with open wounds and incisions, most with compromised immune systems, and it should be scrupulously clean, and I proabably shouldn't have been "impressed" to see cleaners doing the basics, it should be a given, and should have been perhaps a bit more thorough.

My main fear going into the hospital was not regarding the op, I could cope with that no probs, but I did have a panic attack going in as my biggest fear was MRSA, and it's a bad state of affairs when a patient going in for an op in not worried about the procedure or possible complications, but about the cleanliness - or lack of - in the hospital.

So, as for the actual medical staff, I would give a pretty big thumbs up, I've had to attend both myself, and been in attendance when family members had to be admitted, and most of the staff could not have been nicer or more professional, and reassuring and calming towards people who are ill and worried.
As for cleanliness, improvements have definitely been made (IMO) but a lot yet to be done.

Roen

Just got a bill for x-rays today......actually make that two bills. One was from 2003 (which was paid in full at the time) and the other was for three x-rays I got done last week. The odd thing is that I only got one done last week.

So now I have a combined bill of €224 for the grand total of one x-ray. I have a funny feeling that this one will end in an unpleasant fashion.

Freddie59

The root of the issue with cleanliness in the WRH is that the cleaners supervise themselves (who watches the watchers?). When the Religious were responsible the old Hospital was spotless.

I have also seen (and been told of) some horror stories just by people observing some cleaners at work. It ain't pretty.

Everything can't be blamed on people not washing their hands (although this may help). How is it that years ago there was none of this level of failure?

echosound

Roen wrote: »

Just got a bill for x-rays today......actually make that two bills. One was from 2003 (which was paid in full at the time) and the other was for three x-rays I got done last week. The odd thing is that I only got one done last week.

So now I have a combined bill of €224 for the grand total of one x-ray. I have a funny feeling that this one will end in an unpleasant fashion.

Be prepared to follow it up and for it to take up to two months to sort out. I was billed as a private patient for a procedure there last year, and it took ages of to-ing and fro-ing with the accounts dept to sort it out. In fairness the accounts dept were trying to sort it, and were helpful enough, but some gobdaw had decided on my admission card to take it upon themselves to tick the private patient box instead of the public which I had opted for, luckily for me said gobdaw had ticked it in black biro whereas the rest of the card was filled out in blue biro, so it was easy to pinpoint where the mistake came about. There's a phone number on the invoice you get, ring them, you get an answerphone, but do leave a message as they will get back to you and try to sort it out.

Don't let it go and just pay, there's been lots of admin errors in various hospitals round the country in the past few years WRT billing, hospitals charging VHI and BUPA for 4 night stays for a patient when it was only 1 night, extra procedures, etc. Have lots of friends this has happened to - presented with VHI statement for stuff they never had done!
I dunno if it's genuine error or someone chancing their arm, but do be prepared to argue your case and get it sorted.

Sully

What I laugh about these "cleaners" is there a bunch of old ladys or non-nationals (no offense) just looking for something to keep them occupied.

Idealy, a cleaning job should be given to someone with a prvoen track record. Someone who is young, willing to scrub hard (with a mop!) and keep the place clean.

Thats where it starts - the cleaners. Then we work on patients, visitors, docs/nurses etc. making sure they clean their hands.

Roen

Cheers for the advice Echosound, I'll certainly be fighting my corner, however it's one of those 'their word against mine' type of cases. Time will tell, and it's early doors yet as I haven't even got back to them about it.