I was totally shocked at the amount of very sick people on trolleys in the corridors. There were no beds to be had in Galway that weekend! I was treated in a side ward with no pillow or blanket for the night I stayed. If you can avoid it, do not go here.

Comfortable, reassuring, extensive testing to help with diagnosis. If you are sick, Bon Secours Galway is the place to be.

While some of the staff tried their best in conditions I would describe as touching the 3rd world, it's not good enough to be totally ignored and given no information on your condition or transfer. Doctors wandering around not really doing anything except social chatting is not acceptable in this day and age.

Brought my brother re: cataracts. The empathy and understanding the doctor showed towards my brother whose eyes were so much worse than we thought, was profound. Surgery done today on his worst eye. In the day care area, all the staff nurses etc.. were so helpful and friendly. Their way of dealing with my brother kept him calm and stress free. Thank you all.

I was admitted to A&E for an overdose with the intentions of taking my own life. Was taken in immediately and assessed and then waited for hours to be seen by a psychiatric team. Was asked numerous irrelevant questions and after, was told to go home and go out for a walk. Zero understanding or empathy towards my situation.

No clear process or procedure. Nurses running around looking for equipment, dressings, gloves. Blood pressure equipment left uncharged or not functioning. The sequence of carrying out similar functions by different staff varied. The method of collection of data and recording of same is archaic. The layout of hospital and an efficient set of procedures are not compatible.The amount of time spent moving trolleys around (musical chairs) is ridiculous. There is probably more time spent moving trolleys around than there is dealing with the patients in the trolleys. The personnel on shifts seem to change so frequently that continuity is impaired and thus efficiency will not be achieved. Finding one's way around the hospital is an almost impossible task. Any restructuring of the building that has taken place lacks foresight and imagination. Parking charges are very expensive. The ratio of pen pushers to front line staff is off the wall. An efficient management structure is non existent. I would suggest knocking the building and starting from scratch. The term 'Centre of Excellence' is definitely a misnomer I believe.

Having listened to Joe Duffy this week and horror stories of people’s negatice experiences of the Irish maternity system, I really cannot let this chance pass to highly commend the outstanding maternity care we received this week at UHW. It is terrible that some women, babies and families have bad outcomes and my heart goes out to them. However, it is apparent to me from my own experience this week, watching helplessly as things get serious quickly during childbirth, that without the wonderful staff and their willingness to work under tremendous pressure we would be much worse off. Doctors and midwives work in the kind of environment where anything less than a perfect outcome is failure. They are under tremendous pressure medically, constantly short staffed and cut off at the knees by under resourcing from the HSE. Poor outcomes and treatment are never ok but it is sometimes down to unavoidable complications of a difficult to control event like childbirth that is at play. People are quick to accuse staff of negligence, bad treatment etc. the truth is sometimes the only way to get your baby into this world safely is to roar encouragement, put a needle in someone’s back near their spine and risk the possible side effects, perform the nasty episiotomy cut, use the suction cup on baby’s head giving an ugly mark and put stitches in an area of a woman’s body that will cause serious discomfort. I speak for my wife because she has asked me to. None of this was pleasant for anyone. Do we really think the staff are sadists? They did what they had to do and we are so so grateful for their education, skill and knowledge to do those things: as a result Our son is here, my wife is home. Thank you UHW maternity services, we’d be in big trouble without you.

In A&E for a day with 92 year old father. Outstanding care from all involved. Busy, peaceful and well staffed.

Poor nursing care.

I was given a letter from my doctor. CT scan required due to particular symptoms. After waiting for hours on end, an A&E staff member said ‘you're a category 4 and low on the list to be seen. Maybe if more doctors come in you will be seen’. The staff member asked me did I have a needle in my arm and I said ‘ What needle?. I did not have a needle in my arm - there was no treatment given. The staff member cut the patient ID band off my wrist and I left the hospital without being seen. I felt the staff member's attitude was very disconcerting, they couldn’t care less. I was polite but inside was infuriated. Never again.

My son attended Clonmel hospitals A&E in April 2019 with a serious injury to his face from a fall from a horse. The staff were excellent from the minute he was seen to when he was discharged. He was treated very fast and efficiently, which included MRI scans x-rays and blood tests and I cannot express how nice everyone was to myself and my son. The place was spotless and warm and staff so friendly and helpful. We live in Waterford county but I will from now on only attend this hospital as have been to Waterford University Hospital and do not rate it. Big thank you to all who looked after my son and to Joseph his doctor, we both really appreciate it.

Nurses in the oncology ward are great, very friendly with a positive uplifting attitude. My father is receiving treatment for colon cancer and they go out of their way to make everyone welcome and comfortable. I can't say the same for all staff members.

Outpatients is a nightmare. They leave you sitting there and make no effort to tell you it’ll be two hours or longer to wait.

I’d like to thank all the the staff, nurses and doctors who looked after my son recently in the cardiac day ward. Everything was clearly explained and they really couldn’t do enough for us to make the day less stressful. I’m very grateful for the excellent level of care we received.

I would avoid this place if at all possible. Was waiting for ages in A&E and then had to tell my story to about three or four different people before they decided to admit me, which took a further 3-4 hours for a bed to become available. Spent two days getting tests done and I ended up fasting 16 hours. I kept seeing different nurses who didn’t seem to have a clue. The staff member doing one of the tests was very abrupt. I really do not know why people go into these professions when some lack basic people skills. I went out feeling same as I came in. Avoid, avoid, avoid

I was assessed and information gathered from me on the corridor with other patients and relatives listening. It was a third world experience. The only real professionals I met were the paramedics who brought me in and they don’t work in the hospital.

The only issue that I have with this excellent hospital is with a certain individual in one of the department who badly needs to learn some manners and how to deal with the public who pay his wages.

Exceptionally high standards of care and support

Nurse very rude, upsetting and insulting patient. Showed no privacy when discussing patient's medical issues. Worst experience ever.

It took 16 hours for me just to be seen by a doctor, who was actually brilliant, and to finally get results of tests. Me, my mother and little brother had to stay on those horrible chairs all night. Prisoners were brought in before us and seen straight away. Another woman was with me the whole time, also waiting 15 hours to be seen.

I attended A&E in St. Vincent's by ambulance at 4.00am because I was passing a kidney stone. I was in absolute agony. Staff at admission didn't believe me and wrote 'moderate back pain' on my admission form and told me to go and wait in the waiting room. 5 and a half hours later I was sent for an X-ray which confirmed that yes indeed, it was a kidney stone and it was wedged in the ureter. The only painkillers I was given were a couple of Paracetamol. I was transferred to a ward and then had to wait five whole days to be operated on, and the procedure did not turn out well. I was then sent home. Within a week I developed a serious infection. Compared with the care and treatment I received in hospital in Vienna a few years previously when I had a kidney stone in my other kidney, this was a complete joke.

Waited nine hours in A&E before I was started on an antibiotic. Arrived with pneumonia and was put on a trolley for the night. It was so overcrowded and not a nice experience, not something I want to go through again. Doctors and nurses are doing their best but in terrible conditions. I complained that the bathroom was really dirty, the smell was so bad that I physically felt sick every time I used it. Don't want to have to go back here again.

I believe there is a culture of rudeness at this hospital. Very little kindness shown to patient or visitors except by one male Filipino nurse who was outstanding.

Not very clean and I rarely saw nurses/doctors wash hands or use sanitiser. I later found out that I had come into contact with someone who had a hospital superbug and I now have to get more tests, but I will never set foot in this place again. Rarely saw cleaners, and when they were around, they did not clean properly. They used the same cloths in the toilet and ward.

My uncle was sent to Bantry with a health problem. He was able to walk, talk, communicate and his mind was clear even though he was 85 years old, but they NEVER got him out of his bed. He lost all use of his legs. It was easier for them to put a catheter in and keep him bed for the staff. I was told that because he was not an acute patient they did not have the man power to help him and that he was only here until he could be moved. While I navigated the system, my poor uncle was just left there. Because of this, he had to be put into a nursing home. He had VHI and we expected that he would have been treated with exceptional care and dignity. He was NOT! I am heartbroken over everything he had to endure. I am his next of kin. I live in the United States. From the very beginning I was told we cannot care for him and we need him out. There were a few nurses and staff who were very kind and I appreciate everything they did. I believe the hospital is understaffed. Also, because of him being in the bed for so long, he left with a terrible bed sore that he is still dealing with nine months later. I pray he never has to be re-admitted even though it is his closest hospital. It has taken me a long time to get the courage to put my disgust and sadness down in words.

We are blessed to have such a facility in the West of Ireland. Thank you to all the staff in the Galway Clinic - really top class service.

I was admitted into the hospital in severe pain and distress. This was not addressed., I informed them that I couldn't stand or sit, this was ignored and they tried to transfer me into a wheelchair. I ended up having to lie on the hospital floor to relieve the pain I was experiencing. The attitude of nurses and doctors was disgusting with zero empathy or care. I was left on a trolley for six hours with only three visits from a doctor. The doctor did not engage with me and was arrogant and useless. The doctor's solution was to give me pain meds and let me go down the private route. An absolute disgrace if this is modern medicine in Ireland 2019.

The shortage of nurses and care assistants was ridiculous and dangerous. Every day there was a shortage. This was all day and night shifts.

The standard of care and professionalism was second to none. The person I was admitted by dealt with everything in an extremely professional manner. My surgeon performed a total hip replacement. An excellent surgeon. I would not consider anybody else for future orthopaedic surgeries. My recovery time was short and I owe this to his skill. From care staff, to the cleaning staff to the nursing staff to the bed manager: excellent all round. My stay at the Beacon was most comfortable and is probably the only hospital I would choose in the future.

A horrendous experience at Mater Cork. My Dad at 79 was left six hours in a waiting room with others who all were left waiting for their procedures. No communication throughout.