Your stay
The information below will be helfpul for your stay at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and the Northern General Hospital. For information about Weston Park Cancer Centre click here and for Jessop Wing click here
What to bring with you
Storage is limited on the ward so we ask that you only bring what is necessary. Some things you will need to bring include:
Any medication you are taking, all in their original packaging, including:
- Tablets
- Medicines
- Inhalers
We would also suggested you add these items to your checklist:
- Pyjamas or nightdress
- Bed jacket or cardigan
- Dressing gown
- Slippers
- Toiletries (including contact lens cases, denture pot etc)
- Mobility aids (frames and sticks)
- Hearing aid
- Glasses
You might also want to bring something to do during your stay for example:
- A book
- Crosswords
- Knitting
For safety reasons, we prefer that you don’t bring any electrical items into hospital with you. The exception to this are electric razors.
What not to bring
There is a locker next to each bed in which to keep your personal belongings but you are strongly advised not to bring any valuables or money, other than a small amount to buy newspapers, pay for parking or telephone calls.
The hospital cannot accept responsibility for personal property kept in lockers. If you cannot avoid bringing valuables or money into the hospital, give them to the senior nurse on the ward who will give you a receipt and put them in the hospital safe. They will be kept in the safe in the Cashiers’ Department until you are ready to go home.
Please note that large sums of money can normally only be repaid by cheque and collected between 9am and 5pm on weekdays.
Clothing and laundry
The hospital is not able to provide facilities for washing your clothes. We therefore ask you to make suitable arrangements with your visitors to collect and return your laundry. If this causes difficulty please tell your nurse.
As space on the ward is limited it would also be helpful if you could arrange for someone to accompany you to the hospital when you come for admission so that they can take home any clothes and luggage that you will not need on the ward.
Ward accommodation
The room where your bed is will only have patients of the same sex as you.
Your toilet and bathroom will be just for your gender, and will be close to your bed area, unless you need assistance where specialist bathroom facilities will be used.
It is possible that there will be both men and women patients on the ward, but they will not share your sleeping area. You may have to cross a ward corridor to reach your bathroom, but you will not have to walk through opposite-sex areas.
You may share some communal space, such as day rooms or dining rooms, and it is very likely that you will see both men and women patients as you move around the hospital. This also includes visitors who may come onto the ward.
For further details see our section on single sex accommodation.
Your meals
Meals and drinks will be offered to you during your stay in hospital.
During your stay you will be given a choice of food at meal times. Depending on the ward you are on, you may be asked to complete a menu card to select your meal, but on some wards you do not need to do this.
If you have missed a meal for any reason you will be offered a snack or light bite.
The catering staff at the hospital makes every effort to ensure that your meals are as appetising as possible. All hospital menus offer a range of balanced healthy and nutritional meals. The menu always includes at least one dish that does not contain any meat, fish or poultry. We also offer meals to suit Halal, Kosher or African Caribbean diets.
If you have been prescribed a special diet you will be given a special menu card and will be visited by one of the Dieticians.
All wards have slightly different meal times but there will be information about this on the ward.
Phone calls
Your family and friends can find out how you are doing either by phoning the ward, the ward numbers are available here
If your family and friends ring the ward, please could you ask that they choose one person to ring who can then pass on the news of your progress to everyone else. This helps us spend more time with patients and less time answering the phone.
Mobile phones
Mobile phones and tablets are allowed in hospital, but please make sure you make phone or video calls in way that does not disturb other patients. It is our hospital policy for mobile phones to be turned off when entering a hospital ward or department. This is to respect the hospital environment for patients and staff and also to protect patient confidentiality (particularly now that many mobile phones also have camera and video capabilities). Please do not film or photograph staff or your treatment without prior consent from staff that are involved.
Visitors
We welcome visitors but it is important to ensure that you and other patients are able to get sufficient rest. Please click here for further information.
