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Unfortunately my friend and I have both needed hospital attention recently and I’ve also accompanied another friend to A&E on a number of occasions throughout the past year. I’ve been to both City Hospital and Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham in the UK on a number of occasions. The difference in the quality of service between the 2 NHS hospitals is vast and Selly Oak Hospital is much better than City Hospital in every way from my personal experience. From now on I will travel further to Selly Oak Hospital and won’t use City Hospital again unless I have no other option.

In City Hospital the whole atmosphere is different in Accident & Emergency to Selly Oak Hospital. The way the staff treat you and their whole attitude has in my experience fallen short of what one would expect from an NHS Hospital in the UK and I could give lots of examples. One normally has to wait a lot longer and are often left sitting in a very small room sometimes for hours where one doesn’t even know what’s happening as communication between staff and patients is usually poor. I’ve had personal experience of staff with a very bad attitude in City Hospital, once my friend was very worried, not knowing what was going on for literally 7 hours, left in a small room thinking he might be seriously ill. I tried to explain that my friend was feeling claustrophobic in the small room, but staff didn’t listen throughout and when I asked a nurse what was happening very politely I got literally shouted at in a bad temper saying, “I’ll get the doctor” with a very nasty tone of voice. The way I was spoken to was utterly wrong, but if I’d have spoken back in the same manner, I’d be the one being banned and thrown out. My friend experienced very similar bad attitude with one of the doctors on a previous visit and when he made a formal complaint very politely to reception, the staff didn’t want to help and the same doctor came out and had another go at my friend for complaining. They are slow and inefficient in comparison to Selly Oak Hospital, I’ve seen numerous patients who are clearly very ill just left in corridors for hours or curled up on chairs in pain without help from staff. I’ve seen elderly & disabled patients left waiting for an X-ray and I’ve overheard staff making very inappropriate jokes about them when they were having trouble breathing, this was disgusting and extremely shocking in my opinion.

In Selly Oak Hospital the atmosphere is calm and relaxed in Accident & Emergency. One is dealt with quickly and efficiently by friendly and approachable staff. One is kept informed exactly what is going on throughout with the maximum of respect. One feels trust for the staff here and I can only praise them. It’s a totally different hospital to City Hospital and I can also praise Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham where I’ve also had very positive experiences.

All NHS hospitals should provide the same high level of service in the UK. All NHS staff should treat patients with a high level of respect as they expect patients to treat them no matter which hospital they work for. The quality service shouldn’t vary to such a massive degree from one hospital to another and it’s therefore important for the NHS to address this problem and work harder on retraining staff and improving hospitals that aren’t up to scratch in the United Kingdom.

Disclaimer

The above article is without prejudice to City Hospital, Heartlands Hospital or the NHS and is my personal opinion only. It should not be taken as definite fact. My full legal disclaimer applies to this document and all other documents on this website.

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