By Roger Childs
The young Registar’s team was fantastic, dedicated, intelligent and hard working. –Patient review
Worth the wait
The makeover of Wellington Hospital was a long time coming but the results were good.
Some readers will recall the old hospital entrance off Riddiford St with two sets of steps to get you inside. That old façade has been retained across a courtyard beyond the spacious “Atrium” which runs over 200 metres from the main doors to the well-stocked café.
There is nothing like first-hand experience to appreciate the benefits of the new hospital. I recently spent most of three days in the buildings and was very impressed. The facilities are excellent – well appointed “rooms”, wide corridors, spacious nurses-stations, impressive service and food.
Great service from top to bottom
From the cleaners to the specialists there is a commitment to provide patients with the very best care. Most of the nurses and carers are women and generally Asian immigrants. There was nothing they wouldn’t do and if you pressed the right button they would be there in an instant.
Food and the café
Hospital food used to be a bad joke but these days it’s excellent. Patients are asked in the evening to fill in their choices for the three meals on the following day. They cater for vegetarians and vegans as well as carnivores. There is also a range of choices and you can opt for small or large helpings. Here’s an example of a breakfast I had – there were plenty of options.
- WeetBix with Soy Mike and Prunes
- Wholemeal Toast with Margarine and Marmite
- Coffee with milk and sugar
On the ground floor there is a well-stocked café with excellent coffee and fresh food. It’s very popular and some local people come off Riddiford St to patronize it.
Improvements
There does need to be more space in Accident and Emergency. There are often people in the corridors waiting to be allocated a more “permanent” place. Obviously, assessing space is not easy and the numbers coming into A&E on a Friday night and especially on Saturday nights are difficult to predict.
The Transit Lounge where patients get their paperwork and advice for their return to the outside world also needs to be more spacious.
Parking
Both enough parking places and the cost for visitors are problems. The answer is to leave your car in the Countdown car park which is accessible from Adelaide Road and Hanson Street.