The Grange University Hospital

Poor start or absolutely run off their feet. My son went in yesterday 10am with excruciating headache they put him on painkillers and IV antibiotics. He needed a lumbar puncture, after being told it would be taking place first thing next day, he was left waiting over 9hours.... however, all staff friendly and visiting easy with single rooms

**** Review edit August 2022****
Im sorry to say The Grange has not improved at all. The aesthetically pleasing and mostly single rooms, all with TVs (but no remotes... I bought my own but wrestled to keep it?!). I am a spinal surgery patient and the ward struggled with my care. Most staff are v.friendly, but a lack of awareness of spinal patients is clear. My table or call bell would be left unreachable. Food leaves alot to be desired (dont ever order soup!) and mostly freezing cold. I was washed, not covered and Drs walked in, busy staff cant answer call bells & Id was left covered in excrement with the door open?! There was excrement flicked up the light &walls, this was reported ¬ cleaned (I imagine its still there now). My physio went from every day at The Heath hospital (who I simply could not fault) to 3x week or less with low staffing levels here.... the list goes on. I am writing to them, not to complain, but so they are made aware. Something needs to change.

I was taken in unexpectedly with a heart condition which ended up needing a 2 week stay and 2 x 3 hour operations.
The hospital and facilities are first class, immaculately clean and brand new.
The staff, to a person; porters, cleaners, catering, nursing, doctors & surgeons were all outstanding. Kind, attentive, empathetic, knowledgeable and highly professional.
If you are unfortunate enough to end up in hospital, you would be very lucky to end up in the care of these people at this hospital.

Nightmare.

8 hour+ wait times just to be seen by a doctor. Let alone further tests.

Tiny A&E room.

Clearly overstretched (not enough doctors/constantly overwhelmed)

Uncomfortable metal chairs.

Too small. No space for wheelchairs and people having to sit on the floor.

Not fit for purpose.

I will say. The doctors and nurses are nice and this is not their fault at all.

I'm 29, usually fit and healthy. Never been to hospital, but I've had to go twice recently with intense heart/chest pains/stomach pains that are getting worse. Only had basic checks done bloods/ECG and once you're considered 'stable' you're sent home. So now I'm having to try and sort my heart out via my GP which will take ages.

Extremely extremely worrying.

Makes you very depressed about the system, and I dread to think of what will occur at this A&E as time goes on.

I just spent a week in the acute cardiology ward in the grange and I cant praise the nurses and doctors that took care of me enough. Even the lady who brought me dinner. Jan and Cynthia (the nurses assigned to me ) in particular were amazing and a huge calming influence on me and there knowledge was astounding. I felt totally relaxed and couldn't have asked for anymore from them. Very caring atmosphere around the whole ward. These people are definitely not paid enough for what they are doing. Thank you all.

I delivered my little girl here on the 09th of October and count myself very lucky for the team of midwives I had looking after me.

I wouldn’t say my delivery was awful looking back at it, but I would say that had it not been for the team looking after me and my baby it could’ve turned out very awful.

The midwives were caring, supportive and pushed for me to do things as smoothly as they could possibly guide me to.

Thanks to them, I was able to take my little girl out for walks in her stroller two days after she was born, and my general recovery has been smooth too.

I am very thankful and grateful for the team of midwives that delivered my baby girl safely.

REVIEW OF C4 SECTION ON LEVEL 4 - RESPIRATORY.

I need to add I was LUCKY.

As 32yo ended up with respiratory issues on 29.12.22 GP sent me to this hospital worried about my oxygen levels and extreme high heart rate.
Cough and 40°.
I was certain it's pneumonia not covid or flu.
After 30min in covid testing centre (all negative) I was transported on wheelchair to be helped. I was seriously saved from 1st min of being in waiting (very comfy!) area. 4 people per section. Communicative and helpful staff. I could see those people love their job or at least are passionate about it. I was admitted after 10h of waiting - mind I was gives fluids, antibiotics and painkillers via drip, food and water. So my waiting time was actually my treatment time. I ended up in C4 sector (4th floor) - respiratory.

I want to thank whole team. From cleaners who do decent job, meal and drink delivery people working 12h shifts, nurseries who change every 12.

I was ther 5 days through NYE. Helping not only with treatment, being gentle and comforting. Helping me walk to toilet. Carring my oxygen tank, transporting via wheelchair. Even tho "it's their job" I felt so safe and comforter during times I feared for my life.

IV, antibiotics, blood tests, muscus tests, ct scan, x Ray, anti clog injections, painkillers, steroids, antibiotics. Checking my levels every 1h. And temperature.

All of this work just for me (how I felt) to be sure I get better.

Meals 3x a day. Warm and tasty!
If I needed ANYTHING all I had to do is ask.

I will be forever thankful. Thank you C4!

It was my 1st time in hospital (other than giving birth).

And yes, I was diagnosed with sever pneumonia, now back home and still recovering.

I'm grateful it was not covid as my waiting time could be 16h by sitting in test office before even entering waiting area on hospital.

People shouldn't RECOMMEND hospital but I do recommend this one. Plus - C4 (I was bed C4 . 89) has an amazing views.

My poor daughter in law was sent home less than 24 hours after a 36 hour labour followed by an emergency c section. She was barely able to move! Baby then spent the next 2 days with her sleep deprived dad waiting around the hospital after being recalled due to jaundice. All this meant that brand new very sick mum was separated from her baby and partner for the first few days. Mum's health has since deteriorated and she had to wait around in A&E to be seen. Shockingly poor lack of care and concern for a new mums physical and emotional health. If the correct care had been offered mum would have remained in hospital with baby when clearly both needed treatment. So disappointing. Whilst waiting in the hospital with my son and 2 day old granddaughter we were surprised to see several groups of nurses who were simply sat around chatting at computer desks... they jumped up quickly every time we approached to ask how much longer we would have to wait for a new baby to be seen. On one occasion time was wasted due to not enough blood taken and so they had to cause upset for dad and baby by drawing bloods again! My perception is that there too many nurses and not enough doctors/senior practitioners who can actually carry out assessments procedures. This is causing long waits and emotional distress. I saw no evidence of nurses in this department being rushed off their feet...quite the opposite.

I have now had two very different experiences of the hospital. First was in the Spring when I spent a week in with broken ribs before being sent to the Heath. All of the staff were kind and efficient, and despite being very busy, were always happy to help. Nice new confortable wards. Food good although a bit repetitive. Only quibble really was that patients were allowed to keep the remote to watch telly as late as they wished. The second more recent experience was a thirty hour stay at A&E with a bad lung infection. Again everyone was lovely and efficient, despite again being extremely busy. Food and a hot drink were brought round every four hours. A lady called Rachel did an excellent job of cleaning up in the morning. Only small complaints really but not having a tanoy made it very difficult to understand who was being called. And the vending machine was not well stocked up. Though different visits, both were largely positive even at times of high pressure on the staff.