Institutional Loos

I took Joy to her pre-op assessment at Leicester General Hospital this afternoon. She is due to have one of her knees replaced in two weeks' time. On the last occasion that I had seen her, she was barely able to walk.

I know she's not confident driving in traffic and she hardly knows Leicester. She has a disabled driver badge which enabled us to make use of free parking.

We arrived just after 2 pm, half an hour before her appointment. I thought we were making good progress when almost immediately, a nurse called her in to check on her patient details. And then the wait began.

At 3.20 pm, I was feeling peckish, so wandered off to find somewhere that sold coffee, where I could eat  my sandwich. Fortunately, the restaurant proved to be just around the corner from the waiting room. I popped into the Ladies before I went in.

I liked the repetitive pattern in this and the contrast between light (as much as there is of it) and shade, so I whipped out my little camera. Better in black and white.

Leicester General is in serious need of refurbishment. Paint is peeling, there are holes in the walls in places, it all looks tired and, frankly, dingy. No money for that in the NHS. 

The staff were friendly and helpful though, which made up for things.

After wrestling with a pot of rice noodles that had gone stringy and dry, with just four slivers of chicken, and I mean slivers, I returned to Joy about 45 minutes later. 

In the interval, she had seen the doctor who had passed her fit for her operation, and the consultant surgeon, in whom she felt entirely confident. All that was left was to have her bloods and swabs taken and an ECG.

We waited another hour. By the time we left, it was getting on for six o' clock. So much for getting there early. We couldn't understand why patients who had arrived later than her had been seen and left before her.

We stopped at the mega Sainsbury's on the ring road for a refreshing Italian lemonade. Home at 7.30 pm.