"To feel confident I may need to relocate"

We had a plan to spend some time on the south east coast of England. I wasn’t well and this plan didn’t happen. I went to Ennskillen hospital. I Saw staff who said take a seat and I was seen within 10 minutes. I was taken into a room by a young nurse for tests/checks. I could tell the nurse was a little bit uncomfortable. She completed the tests, removed the wires and repeated the tests. She got the results and went to fetch a colleague. Some colleagues came in and asked me to move into the full A & E dept and sit on a chair. Then the initial nurse came along, took one look at me and went to consult a colleague and it all ‘kicked off’ it happened quickly, I was wired up again and had an injection. The results were taken away to someone else.

Next thing a Dr came in who had these results and said they’d been in touch with cardiovascular at Londonderry and said they wanted to see me. I naively thought that I would be given a tablet and then get a call from the department in this hospital to see them in a few weeks’ time. This wasn’t the case at all.

Within 10 minutes 2 ambulance drivers were there, they put me on a stretch and took me on the 70 mile trip to Londonderry with the blue lights, which was horrendous. As soon as I arrived they wheeled me into a room-I have never seen anything like this in my life before. I didn’t know what had been injected into me. I was straight in and a whole team off nurses and appropriate people were there. They explained they would strip me off and clean me and they were going to put in a stent. They said initially they thought the procedure would be 15/20 mins. I’d lost track of time-but it actually took approximately 45 mins. They were doing this in front a TV screen and they showed me the results before and afterwards and then I was taken to ward where they monitored me throughout the night and then in the morning they explained I need further tests. I needed an ultrasound but this would be done in Ennskillen. Within a short time I was taken back to Ennskillen and put on another ward and made to be comfortable. Then I was taken for the ultrasound test and returned to the wards afterwards and released to go home-all in fewer than 36 hours.

Upon release, I was contacted by a nurse from a system called Hearts and Minds- I had no idea what this was, but basically what happened was they were monitoring me and my aftercare upon release in conjunction with my Dr. On a daily basis, I had to blood pressure tests, regular weight checks and they also wanted to know my chest measurements. They give a lot of advice on foods to eat and avoid and there was a lot of literature to advise on what to do and what not do in terms of diet and exercise and how to increase this.

On average they have contacted me twice a week and given me advice on and monitor the medication I am and advise my Dr on what tablets need to be changed to give them the results for blood reading that they want. It seems that some of the tablets can affect my kidneys and this is the reason they are doing the blood tests. So far all I can say is that the service I got form initial contact in Ennskillen and the way the relevant ambulance people and everyone throughout this time has been absolutely superb. I cannot fault anyone for anything whatsoever. Basically they saved my life.

Now onto concerns for the future. I am getting older, and somewhere along the lines my medical needs are going to change-a certain amount of things can be done in Ennskillen but some departments in Ennskillen are closing down. Some of the departments are closing and there’s further closures planned for the future. Based on this, I am seriously considering selling my house in Ennskillen and moving to another part of Northen Ireland or even moving back to south coast of England. Hypothetically, if I was to be living in Worthing and go to A&E who couldn’t manage-bigger hospitals within 20 miles could manage this. Public transport would also be better than if between Ennskillen and Belfast. To feel confident I may need to relocate.