I have been to hospital lots of times and had good and bad experiences. These are my stories of how I was treated on two different visits and what made the difference for me.

I had a good experience of going to hospital when having an operation on my knee. The learning disability nurse helped by giving me some easy read information about what would happen.

The doctor explained things in a way I could understand and the nurses looked after me. 

This was a good experience because all the staff communicated well and took the time to help me.

But in 2016, I had to go to accident and emergency, and the receptionist did not understand my needs. I kept having to repeat myself which made me feel very anxious.

I asked if I could go and wait in a quiet space but there wasn't anywhere to go. They told me to wait outside if I wanted to have space.

The doctors were not very good and gave me information which was different to what the nurses had told me.

They changed my medication and did not clearly explain what I needed to do. It was very difficult to understand the words they used, especially the jargon.

If they would just take some time to explain things better, I would know what to do.

 

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