Thanks to a great surgeon in whom I have total confidence, an excellent anaesthetist, a lovely team of nurses and a spotlessly clean private room, my experience at the Clinique Geoffrey Saint Hilaire was mostly positive. Nevertheless, in the hope that Ramsay Santé reads this and implements clearly necessary changes, 2 red flags :
1) Admissions: I arrived at the clinic promptly at 07h00, as requested, in time to prepare for 08h00 on the operation bloc. Asked to sit in the waiting room on the ground floor, alongside several unmasked people coughing loudly, an hour went by – with me asking, intermittently, what was happening, to be told each time, brusquely, ‘just wait’. Finally, around 08h45 my name was called out, and I was hastily rushed up to the operating floor, with minimum time for necessary pre-op preparation since the eminent surgeon had also been waiting for me for over an hour! This stressful experience, caused apparently by a communication glitch between downstairs admissions and upstairs operating floor, was most unwelcome just before an intimidating operation. It's disappointing that the clinic offered no apologies, despite the fact that I raised the issue with admission staff upon departure.
2) Food: Isn’t it time hospitals – supposedly places focused on health and healing - took a holistic approach to their catering? Why continue giving patients food awash with additives, pesticides and micro-plastics when these are now proven to be toxic both for us and planet earth ? The low grade rations I was offered - included I assume in the almost 460 euros per night charged for a Solo Comfort room - were a sad indication of a general lack of long term vision and investment within this vitally important sector of the health industry.