Bath Chronicle health reporter Laura Matless has seen life on the other side of the city’s hospital after being admitted as a patient.

For two years Laura has charted the ups and downs of the Royal United Hospital, and has interviewed everyone from porters to the chief executive.

But she still found a few surprises when she had to spend several days in an isolation ward with a nasty throat infection.

And, like a true journalist, Laura took note of her stay and wrote a two-page feature about her experiences, illustrated by a picture of her in her hospital bed which she organised while on the ward.

Laura said: “I have spent more than two years writing about health issues for The Bath Chronicle but, apart from the odd visit to a city GP, I have never had any direct experience of being treated at the RUH.

“The corridors of the RUH are quite familiar to me and I have spent weeks at a time following members of staff, as well as meeting patients and researching many aspects of hospital life. But it was still strange to be seeing life inside the hospital from a very different perspective.”

Laura visited the hospital after suffering from a severe sore throat, but at first was sent home with tonsillitis and given some soluble painkillers.

But when the symptoms got worse, she went to see an out-of-hours GP based at the RUH, who explained she had quinsy – a type of infected tonsillitis – and she was admitted.

Laura wrote: “I have written lots of stories about the infection control measures that RUH staff have to take to stop infections spreading, and now I was to have some of those measures applied to me.

“For my three nights at the RUH, I was in my own room and used a separate shower because the infection which had started in my throat could have been passed on to other patients.

“The RUH is rated by patients as a good, clean hospital and it certainly looked that way to me. In my room the floor, sink and table surface were all kept clean.

“The RUH kitchens are also judged to be good, but I did not feel up to eating anything more than a bowl of soup while I was there.

“The thing that surprised me most was that going to hospital was quite expensive to the patient and their visitors. In three days I had four £3.50 telephone and television cards bought for me, which are optional extras. And it costs 35p per minute for people making phone calls to a patient’s bedside.

“Everyone who visited me expressed surprise at the parking costs of £2.50 for two hours. I probably had six visitors during my stay, so adding the two costs together comes to almost £30. For a pensioner or a family on a low income that surprise cost must be quite hard to deal with.

“I know hospitals are busy places but I did not know how long the day is. The first cup of tea was served before 7am, but it was not until Monday afternoon that I was able to have a cup.

“Everybody working on the ward was busy all day. Nurses, healthcare assistants, doctors and cleaners seemed constantly on the go and it’s a tribute to all of their professionalism that at no point did anyone I meet appear stressed, pushed for time or under pressure.”