I've moved hospitals but am still terrified after my ordeal in CUH.

From attending Southdoc in Bandon, proceeding to CUH and surgery later that day, to recovery in the amazing ward 4A where I remained six days after a ruptured appendix. OMG I can only say I had a good time, met lovely people and was looked after by hard working professionals who got the job done with a smile. They saved my life. I’m vegetarian and fussy but the food was excellent. Patience and courtesy fixed any issue. Well done kitchen. Cleaning and porters are just so cool and may I say fun, thanks to everyone for making it work.

I would just like to thank a wonderful nurse Doloros on the Awbeg suite, after a long 3 hours waiting to see the doctor. Nobody's fault of course these things happen, but from the minute I got into the room she was so pleasant and caring. And of course Killian the doctor was also great and put me so much as ease. These people deserve so much credit. Thank you so much to the both of you.

Hospital is a joke, not enough care for people on liquid diets, very little options. How am I expected to get better if it’s just lousy food that would make me worse??? Not enough staff here for the patients. The way they treat long-term illnesses compared to how they should is a joke.

Everything about my visit to CUH on the 9th of July 2018 was 100%.

During 7 weeks of daily visits to the radiotherapy department, we met excellent staff who were very friendly, caring and helpful. The service was very organised, and well run. Everyone in the department made the treatment somewhat bareable. We are very grateful for the care received.

Came for my yearly check up and as part of that I have to give blood for a blood test. The ticketing system used is a joke. Two separate queues depending on whether you are there after referral from a particular consultant or other. That isn't explained or sign posted very well. I spent over an hour waiting after taking a ticket to be then told when my number was called that I was in the wrong queue and had to take another ticket and wait again. Waited another hour with this new ticket and nothing happened. No numbers were being called out. Then eventually found out that there was another smaller waiting room (in the coagulation centre) where people had queued up, so sat in there waiting for my ticket to be called but no ticket system was in place. Nurse didn't know who the next number was so just shouted who's next. I'd had enough by this time so just walked out. Absolute shocking service. A simple system needs to be applied here that both patients and staff know. The hospital and staff are very efficient at making a simple process not work.

I was initially referred in 2014 for cervical nerve protrusions confirmed by 4 MRIs. Now I have to get nerve conduction tests and was told it will take months??? I am steadily going downhill from the constant pain and getting depressed because I feel I have been abandoned by the system simply because I am a public patient. I know private patients (my siblings) who have had surgeries years before me with the same issues. It is very disheartening. I now have to wait again in pain for months for more tests. They could have been doing these all along while I was waiting.

I would like to mention those who jump on patients lying on trolleys in the hospital corridors to ask them to sign payment forms while the patients are under drugs and don't know what they are signing. People spend nights in the corridors, then they are put in mixed wards with anybody regardless of the cases. The rooms stink, the food is disgusting, nobody can sleep. Consultants visit you when they have time, don't give any conclusive explanations, test results are not sent or given to patients or GP. Eventually, you leave the premises in the same state as you came. Treatments are given without much explanations and if you have questions, you are told to come back to A&E if you want a follow -up. If this hospital reflects the state of the health system in this country, then my advice is to flee abroad!

I understood I would have a wait for a bed and for a slot for the operation. I find it unbelievable that our current government still has not sorted the HSE so that more operating theatres are open and being used to get people in for operations and get rid of waiting lists. It is very frustrating on surgeons and nursing staff that people are in severe pain and cannot be helped promptly. I will be eternally grateful for the care I received from my surgeon and all staff in CUH. I am not in the horrendous pain I was in for a long time. hank you to all. I wish everyone in pain was able to do this survey and say they are out of pain like I am. Government - do the right thing, sort our hospitals and give staff a less stressful environment to work in. They are all amazing working in the situations they find themselves in.

Awful hospital, very dirty, I felt consultants didn't care about patients.

Still traumatised after a horrific experience post surgery. Have now moved hospital for follow up-care. Have panicked visiting patients in CUH upon seeing people and rooms involved in my care.

My first visit to the hospital as an inpatient, I walked in to the A&E in the process of a heart attack. The speed and care I was given throughout was exceptional - thank you all so much.

Excellent

I have cancer. I genuinely considered discontinuing treatment as I couldn't bear the thought of going back inside this hospital ever again. Luckily I have scraped the money together for private healthcare.

The care I received at CUH was fantastic. From the very first consultation with the neurosurgeon, everything was explained to me in detail about the procedure. Being spinal surgery there was a huge risk involved and a high chance of the surgery not being successful. I am so thankful to all the staff for being so professional looking after me with amazing care.

No complaints about the doctors. But the nurses would continually give just paracetamol when I was due for pain meds and make me wait for 45 minutes 'just in case it would help first'. I had a drain pulling and hanging off my face. It meant I had to ask for pain meds before I was in pain to avoid being left in agony.

An absolute disgrace to the Irish Health system! Patients on trolleys all down the corridor of A&E, bursting out the doors into the foyer area and actually holding fire doors open. Sick patients left sitting on the floor. Elderly patients treated like dirt. Witnessed two nurses having a big chat in the corridor, one was called on her phone for something work related, her snappy response was 'I'm far too busy to deal with that at the moment' to which she hung up and then continued her chat about her holiday. Admin staff at reception very abrupt and dismissive. Stood for about 20 minutes at the desk to ask for some water for my father. Person behind the desk didn't even look at me, kept shuffling around bits of paper and opening patient files and closing them, without actually doing anything. Eventually they looked up at me and said 'theres a tap in the toilet' and went back to their folder shuffling. The food I saw in the wards was not fit to give a dog! Eggs and cabbage mostly. And the stench. Would make you sick to smell it let alone eat. Staff seemed to think they were on another higher level to patients and public. Chaos on wards. Staff walking around with no ID badges, they could be anyone. Security very lacking. No privacy in the wards, your full history is given out loud for all to hear. One lady was asked to give her sexual history. Patient got sick and the nurse tut-tutted and didn't call house keeping for an hour! The stench was unbearable. Wasn't allowed open the window and the heat was like a sauna! Very unhealthy. Father went to try shower one day and there was faeces on the floor. What is going on in this hospital? Way too many admin staff, not enough clinical care staff and those that are there don't seem to care. Some of the staff we saw were looking sicker than the patients. In my opinion, this hospital should be avoided like the plague. Place should be shut down and bulldozed!

I have been dealing with CUH for over a year now and have lost hope and trust in this place. Praying I find the money to go private.

Appointment at 9:40, didn't seen doctor until 1:45. There was only one doctor, disgraceful experience.

I attended CUH with my four-month-old who was in respiratory distress with croup. Ambulance had notified A&E staff to have paediatric doctors ready. As soon as we arrived everything was dealt with immediately. This was so reassuring - the quick actions of all the staff. The paediatric registrar stayed in resus room until my baby was stable. My baby's stay in CUH was faultless, all the staff were so calm and pleasant despite their working conditions. I hope management recognises as since they are the face of the hospital.

My Mum was admitted through A&E as an emergency with severe breathing difficulty. She was treated quite well but was sent home after a week of treatment without an explanation or diagnosis of her illness. She was still very unwell and on antibiotics. She collapsed at home four days later and was taken by ambulance to a different hospital where she spent a week in HDU and two weeks on the ward. The treatment was fantastic there and she got a diagnosis and treatment plan.

Although my condition was quite serious none of the hospital staff had any sense of urgency about the tests / scans I needed. Waiting is the name of game at CUH. In short I was given the mushroom treatment - i.e. kept in the dark and fed lots of manure. Staff for the most part were polite and kind but some were rude, abrupt and uncommunicative on occasion. The hospital is definitely understaffed and under-resourced and I fully understand the staff are not to blame and for the most part were working as hard as they could. I saw patients neglected when they were crying out for help which was really upsetting. Little old ladies left in their beds when they just needed help to the toilet. Some issues were very minor like the disgusting food (worst I have ever encountered - lost half a stone), inadequate hygiene and lack of privacy and some were major such as a misdiagnosis on the part of my doctor. After my experience here (including two trips to A&E) I would strongly advise anyone to make sure they have good private healthcare insurance and use the private hospitals in the area. I'm scared to go back into this hospital.

My partner was on a trolley for all of her admission in a hallway, despite developing a serious infection/illness.

Atrocious experience. I was touched inappropriately by one member of staff and was met by negative responses from staff when I told them. I received very poor care by nurses. I saw elderly patients not getting their meds and being left soiled. One elderly lady was left hanging in the air on a hoist. She was crying and the response I got from a nurse was not enough staff to take her down.

It all went ahead so fast and painless. Top marks everyone. The food was a different matter however. Corned beef and cabbage yuk. Scrambled egg yuk.

The doctors nurses and all the staff of the A&E were all very caring and professional. They were all under enormous pressure and so, so overworked. It's time they were all treated with the respect they deserve.

Shocking experience, spent 3 weeks in hospital. Horrible nurses and a few bad doctors. Once I was moved wards and did not get my meds for 12 hours and got very ill as a result.

Generally once you get past A&E, treatment is excellent.

Waiting times are unbelievable. Hospital not as busy as I've seen it, yet I had to wait on a trolley for 21 hours before getting a bed. Disgusting.