My husband attended for colonoscopy on Monday at Crawley Hospital and was very impressed with his care from the moment he arrived until he was discharged. Everything was fully explained to him and his discharge summary was thoroughly explained to me and my husband. Well done everyone!

I arrived for my daughters blood test, and I had forgotten her blood form. I had realised this and contacted my doctors surgery, who had sent me the form electronically. When I arrived, I was apologetic and explained the situation and requested if I could send the email to their inbox and they could print it off for me. They advised that they could not do this, as they couldn’t give me their email. I asked if there was a general public email or an inbox for the ward I could send it to and they declined. I asked if my GP could email them the form and they could print it and they said they don’t have the facility to print. I asked if I could go get the form and come back and they declined. I asked if the blood test could be done after seeing the electronic copy and we would wait and my husband would bring the form which would take around 30 mins, this was also declined. Everything I suggested was met with a rude response and very unprofessional and unhelpful. I was told I would just need to rebook, and the next appointment was 1-2 weeks time (they were then able to print me a new appointment, which was strange considering I had been told they don’t have the facility to print). I was very upset and frustrated (with myself also for forgetting a form) but also to feel like no one wanted to help, which I thought would be very straightforward in printing a form. It was a stressful situation, as bringing your child for a blood test because they are unwell isn’t easy. My daughter and I left the department and I was visibly upset, and an employee from another department asked me what was wrong. I explained what had happened. She was very kind and printed my form for me. I returned to Jumbo ward with my form, and I was told I had now missed my appointment (there was no one else waiting/and the phlebotomist was free). The receptionist also demanded who had printed it for me, which I didn’t respond to. I requested please could you see if you could still see us, now I have the form, I would be happy to wait and I was told to take a seat. Whilst waiting the receptionist on Jumbo ward spoke loudly to a colleague so I could hear that I shouldn’t be allowed to come back, I’ve missed my appointment and I was going to mess up their system. The phlebotomist was also saying similar (although they had no patients and no one was was waiting). After 10 minutes of waiting (and no one else arriving for a blood test) they said we could be seen. I was then told (whilst they were preparing to take my doctors blood) that they wouldn’t do this again for me and I had messed up their system for the day. I explained that I don’t regularly forget forms and it was a mistake. All of these exchanges were in front of my 9 year old daughter who was nervous anyway to be having her first blood test. Overall the way the staff spoke to me was very rude and condescending and unhelpful. I also feel they they were untruthful with not being able to print something for me, when another department could print it no problem. The ward was not busy and no other patients were waiting, had they been I would have used my discretion and not still asked to be seen. We did have the blood test eventually, but the staff were unkind. I never raised my voice, and I was apologetic and I was met with rude responses. For me personally it would make more sense, now I had the form to get the blood test completed, rather then take up another appointment at a later day, me to travel again, take time off work and school just because they refuse to print the form. I wouldn’t recommend bringing a child to Jumbo ward for blood tests in the future.

Had a recent blood test at Crawley Hospital. I found the care I received to be appalling. My blood was taken in a shared room, which I did not mind at all. However, the phlebotomist spent the whole time gossiping with their colleague and fired instructions at me mid sentence to their ongoing conversation as if I was barely there. The phlebotomist was also rough, which left more bruising than necessary. I was not filled with confidence that they were concentrating on what they were doing in the slightest. Following this, I received a text message from my GP 2 days later informing me that the lab was unable to process my blood as it was not labelled. I will now need to go back for another 30-40-minute wait to repeat the process and resulting in a delay in my NHS care. Not impressed.