kings A and E dept

[pretty polly]

hi all, i just had a horrible trip to A&E @ kings,(and a two night stay in) and wanted to say how great they all were there, as a new comer to the area, i have listened to many local people i have met, who have had lots of bad experiences ,so i was not happy! but they were great, very helpful, dealt with all the tests really quickly, and were all nice to me, i just wanted to see if anyone had anything nice to say about all the docs an nurses there.....most people have been horrible about them all! thanks to all the staff there, they were under pressure!! probs with non working equipment, not enough staff on shifts, but yet still managed to do their jobs as best as they could!with a smile their faces :)

[Bellenden Belle]

Hoorah! How lovely to read a positive post! Thank you Pretty Polly (and welcome to the area!).

Yes, I spent a Saturday night in A&E last year and thought everyone from the receptionists to the nurses to the lovely cheerful doctor were absolute stars.

I think they also manage the time well - so even though we were there for considerable time, because the nurse saw us very quickly to take a brief history, and because the doctor popped her head in to tell us how long she would be before seeing us, we felt acknowledged and treated well.

And like you Polly I remember that feeling of surprise - which makes me think threads like this which challenge our assumptions are great.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Quite agree - my daughter has made two trips to A&E in the last six weeks and had an op to straighten her broken nose. The staff were absolutely brilliant in A&E and the theatre & ward.

The only moan is reserved for waiting for drugs upon discharge - there has to be a better system - we waited 2.5 hours and then the pharmacy sent up the wrong ones. It makes Argos look good!

[grandpafred]

I had a stroke in January, and was taken to Kings A&E, I could not have asked for better care. There was a specialist, in strokes, on call in A&E, and he immediatley admitted me to their specialist stroke unit. The following day I had a physio, OT and a speech therapist!! all assesing me ang getting me to excercise!The staff on the ward were fantastic (what ever they are paid it's not enough!!)After a stoke the sooner you are up and about and excersising the better chance of recovery you have.

I was in hospital a week and then I was discharded to my friend's home (who lives in Dulwich - I live in bromley)as she lives on the ground floor. The Community neuro-rehabilitation team, visited immediatly and were excellent, giving me excersises and monitoring my progress. I am now home and able to get out and about, with the use of a walking stick.

I can't praise Kings enough, especially the Friends Stroke Unit, and Southwark PCT for their care, and what is often forgotten is that Health Care in the country is free at the point of delivery, no one askes for you insurance or credit card details befoe they treat you !.

[Pickle]

It's so nice to hear something positive said about Kings. Sorry to hear you had a stay in hospital, but I'm really glad your experience was a good one (as good as a stay in hospital can get!).

We've used Kings A&E a couple of times for Mr Pickle, and they were great both times, especially as it was at the peak of "sports injury" time on a Saturday afternoon. Personally I've stayed in a few times for pregnancy related illness and despite them being overstretched (especially when it comes to maternity care in an area where pregnancy seems to be contagious!) I had a good experience. Currently I go there once a week for monitoring and tests and they're great.

[Moos]

Surprised everyone has heard negative things about Kings - there was a thread on the forum not long ago asking for information/recommendations for choosing a local hospital in which to give birth and King's received a lot of positive comments.

My own stay in King's for the arrival of the Moosling was longer than we expected (we thought 4 hours... we stayed for 4 days!) and found the staff amazing, from the midwives to the theatre team. Professional and kind, they epitomised good service.

[Libby]

For anyone not aware: King's run a staff recognition scheme which allows patients to nominate members of staff for an award (individuals or teams). It is called the "King's Commendation Scheme" and leaflets are available in wards or on the Help Desk in reception.

[Huggers]

On New Years Day I landed on my bonce on the Greenwhich ice rink (my new years resolution had been to 'say yes to adventure/no to middle age') Kings A&E glued me back together, were wonderfully efficient, quick and good humoured after what must be their busiest night of the year.

[jim_the_chin]

I've ben to the kids A&E bit a few tmes and got some of the best service I've received in any public or private setting.

[buggie]

.. working in Kids A&E at Kings, may I thank you j_t_c ... will let my colleagues - both adult and paeds staff know xx

[jctg]

Funny you should mention this...

11 days ago I came off my bicycle on the way to work and dislocated my ankle, smashed my ankle bone and broke my tibia and fibula (all quite nasty really). The clinical care I received at Kings was excellent from the doctors, to the A&E staff, the consultant, the registrar, the anaesthetist, the physiotherapist etc. HOWEVER, the nursing care I received on Twining ward was SHOCKING at times. Virtually all the nurses/helathcare assistants in the ward (apart from one notable exception) had sour, miserable faces on them the entire time I was there. There seemed to be no team spirit at all. For example, in the morning when the curtain was pulled back I never received a 'good morning', 'how's your leg?' or anything, just a miserable looking nurse who seemed to see you as getting in the way of them trying to do their job. Call me naive, but I could never have believed that I could be treated like that on a hospital ward. There was one very good, very professional junior sister there, but the rest of them seemed to be in the wrong profession entirely.

It wasn't until nearly 72 hours after I had my operation that I had an ice pack put on my leg to bring down the swelling (the doctor seeemed amazed that the nurses hadn't put one on). This delayed the fitting of my cast and therefore my date of discharge. To top it all I was proscribed and administered an antibiotic containing pencillin which I am allergic to. I was wearing a braclet saying 'Allergic to Penicillin' and it was stated as such at the top of my drugs chart. The nurse who administered it never even apologised to me.

So, my leg will heal due to the excellent clinical staff at Kings but no thanks to the nursing staff there.

[buggie]

might be worth writing to the patient advocacy and liason service (PALS) at Kings to feed back about Twining Ward - only through letting them know how its been can they try and improve.

[pretty polly]

i did actually want to write a letter, so was happy to hear about the scheme in place there, i will do it!!! i think the docs and nurses don't get enough thanks for the great jobs they do! god only knows so many of us are ill at the sight of blood! thank god these people are willing to fix us all up, god knows what the health system would become without them!!

[????]

Indeed, I think a health system without doctors and nurses would probably be a mess

[CamberwellOz]

I had my first child there. I must admit that the maternity ward was pretty bad. It was so incredibly hot that I could not sleep. After a two day labour, I ended up having an epidural. After my child was born (about 1 am in the morning and my husband went home to bed), they placed me in a recovery room and left me there alone for at least five hours. I couldn't pick my newborn child up properly or place her back in the cot without fear of falling off the bed because I couldn't feel my legs. Not one person watched to see if I could breast feed. I know that the staff is spread thin on the ward but I had bloodied sheets piled in a corner of my 'room' for two days (with many nice requests about them being removed). When I eventually signed myself out, they were still there.

On the bright side - when things did go wrong with my birth the 'A Team' doctors were amazing and very professional. It was just the non aftercare that was pants.

[Big Jim]

We'll be having our first child at Kings in October so all this is really useful to know.

I've had really good and really bad experiences in hospitals. When Mrs Jim was in St George's with meningitis she was in a side room that was grim and they tried to give her the usual awful food - people won't get better on slop. The way around it is to not take any crap from anyone. Be polite, be curteous, but if it comes to it, cause a scene and don't let whoever leave until it's sorted.

But back to King's. Everyone at the Harris birthright centre has been absolutley brilliant when we've been for scans and tests. Apart from the receptionists that is. What is it about receptionists in medical settings? And the A&E team were really good when I sliced the top off my thumb making burgers.

[James]

I think King's is great and the staff are brilliant. My only criticism is the rip-off carpark, which is nothing to do with them anyway.

[Moos]

Camberwelloz, how awful that you had that experience. I had heard that King's was good (specifically in contrast to Tommy's about which I heard a tale so appalling I won't repeat it) and my time there bore out the good reputation, from the midwives during labour through the theatre team and specifically the aftercare from the maternity ward midwives. My baby and I were making a total hash of feeding and they were endlessly patient in helping us out.

The food was, of course, bloody awful. Seems my son thought the same, damn his impertinence...

[Michael Palaeologus]

As luck would have it, I have had neither accident or emergency in my 20 years residence in the area.

However, please be assured that, should such a thing happen, I would drag my battered and bleeding corpse to Camberwell for healing and cool cloths upon the forehead; based purely on the recommendations within this thread.

[CamberwellOz]

I did give birth in June last year. It seemed so did half of Camberwell. I really did enjoy being in 'screaming' labour in the hallway in front of people coming to visit. I understand that the whole of south London is trying to move here to breed and Kings did warn me that they had been turning people away all week for lack of beds.

Here, here with the food. I lived off cold Nandos and Spice is Nice.

[Smiler]

I recently gave birth at Kings and had bad experiences with the pre and post-natal care (or lack of).

Some important issues with my pregnancy were not picked up by the three Kings midwives I was seen by in the weeks prior to and on the day of the birth. These were only identified when,after some scary developments when I was in labour, my husband kicked up a fuss because we knew something wasn't right.

I eventually had an emergency caesarian and was taken into the post-natal ward at night. I was left in a bed all night holding my screaming baby in my arms when I couldn't feel my legs and was groggy due to the sedation etc. I rang the bell to ask for some help, to be told that I needed to stop my baby crying by breast-feeding, which I was attempting but failing to do. The baby continued to cry all night - probably keeping all the other poor women and babies on the ward awake - and none of the staff came in to help. I asked for the baby to be put in the crib by my bed (I couldn't get up to do this) and was again told off because she was crying.

In the daytime the staff were clearly busy, and there was a general air that you shouldn't bother them and that you were on your own, but some were helpful if approached. At night, they were really intimidating.

There was no help whatsoever with any aspect of caring for the baby, showering, getting around etc., even for women who had had complicated births and were in pain. The bathrooms were dirty and had blocked toilets.

All in all, it was a frightening experience.

[renae]

Funny you should start this thread as I was singing King's praises on the weekend. I was in A & E last Friday with an ankle injury. Given that it's not a major emergency, I went in expecting to be in it for the long haul but I was seen to and x-rayed quickly & efficiently with staff with a smile :)

I also attend other departments at Kings as an outpatient and have always had pleasant experience...Can't say I've always had that at other hospitals.

[charlottekb]

I totally agree...from a few accidents that my Ma and hubby have had. Right through to when I had my son there, and had to take him back a few times, Kings have never been nothing but brilliant. Through lots of different depts they have always been marvellous. God love em x

[CamberwellOz]

I think what is coming through here is that the maternity ward is really stretched to breaking point. The A&E however sounds like it has it s~@% sorted.

[myhondarepsol]

I work at kings... and sometimes.. a simple thank you will really be nice to hear, especially from patients we spend 12 and a half hours with everytime that we are working.

Last week, I had this conversation...

Nurse: If you need my help, please call me.

Patient: (In the most sarcastic tone that you know) Yeah! If I need you to scratch my back, I will!

Then people inside the same bay.. laughed at the nurse..

Broke my heart. But what else can I do? But just wipe my tear and put on a brave (should I say, thick?) face.