Nuffield Health
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Nuffield Cambridge: the Fawlty Towers of hospitals
Oh dear, a planned visit with an unacceptable waiting time and an unfortunate encounter with the hospital version of Basil Fawlty: Mr Angry the Nurse. We visited this hospital for a repeat procedure, which had been previously been carried out at the other main private hospital in Cambridge, so we knew how it had been handled elsewhere. We arrived promptly at 7.30am, was quickly booked in and shown to our room by a very efficient and friendly receptionist, followed by the obligatory check in by the Ward Sister. All very pleasant. An unknown man came in our room soon, without any introduction, muttered a few words and left with our paperwork: no idea who he was. Was he the cleaner? We waited an hour or so, and then another patient arrived in the room next to us. We heard the same man who had seen us, loudly bark orders at the new arrival on what he should be doing to get ready for his visit. A bit like an annoyed parent telling off their naughty child before walking off. All rather strange. Time passed and this same man came to see us again, again no introduction but we saw his name badge and realised he was a nurse. We then had a conversation that could have been straight from Fawlty Towers. Firstly, he gabbled away in indecipherable hospital terms and acronyms about our planned take away medication. We asked him to clarify what he was saying as we didn't understand. You could clearly see he was becoming irate. How dare we speak back. As part of his response, he told us about the cost of our planned medication and, as we already knew the cost to buy this privately, we knew this was incorrect by a long way. Oh dear, we shouldn't have queried that. Now imagine Basil Fawlty and the infamous scene of him beating his car with a branch that he has just ripped off a tree, just because things aren't going his way. Poor innocent car and tree. You could see the steam coming out of Mr Angry's ears, his face going a lovely shade of red, and his voice going up a few levels. We actually had to try and placate this man and fortunately for us, he soon left. How bizarre and unpleasant. What a rude man. Rather than let this spoil our visit, we just had to laugh and fortunately that was the last we saw of him. My surgery was eventually started about three hours after our arrival. This is simply too long to wait for a scheduled early morning treatment in a non-emergency hospital. I could understand the wait if I was in the large NHS hospital with an A&E just down the road : just so happens to be where I work on the wards and in A&E. All the other nurses and surgery staff were wonderful. I was half expecting for our food and drink to be served by Manuel. I should have asked for a Waldorf salad. We were discharged quickly and on our way. We have had numerous visits to this hospital and the other main private hospital in Cambridge. Given the choice, we won't be coming back here again given the unreasonably long time we had to wait and the very unpleasant encounter with the Basil Fawlty: where was Sybil to bring her husband back to earth? I was half expecting to see Polly walking around or spot the Colonel in the waiting area sneakily having a drink. I wonder if Mr Angry drives a red Austin Countryman? If you're driving around Trumpington Road be on the look out for a red Austin Countryman and steer well clear. You have been warned.