"The NHS at its best - fantastic service by..."

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I wish to express my great admiration and gratitude for the excellent treatment, and very helpful and friendly staff, when we visited the Emergency Eye Department at 9:45 pm on Friday 5 July 2013. My wife & I were staying with friends near Lincoln, who were also hosting an American gentleman who had had cataract operations in the US this year. At 8pm on that Friday evening, he was very concerned that he was seeing lines that came & went. Having spoken by telephone to his consultant in the US, he was advised to see an eye doctor without delay to see if he had a detached retina. Knowing of QMC’s reputation (and discovering that it had an Emergency Eye Dept.) we drove there. From the moment we arrived in the Emergency Eye Department until we left sometime after 11, we were treated professionally, with care, respect and thoroughness; and we would not have known from the staff that their shifts finished at 10. Unfortunately I do not remember anyone’s name, but I hope QMC will know who they are. The receptionist was friendly, smiling, reassuring and efficient. The ophthalmic Nursing Practitioner was similar, doing his job thoroughly, he also told an eye doctor, who was due to go off duty, of our friend’s predicament. The said Doctor willingly stayed on and carried out a thorough examination of our friend’s eye before coming up with a diagnosis of the problem (which was not in the end a detached retina) and gave him helpful advice, and a leaflet, complete with a phone number if he needed any more advice while he was in the UK. My friend, who is used to the (Private) US Healthcare system, was incredibly appreciative and commented that the hour’s examination at QMC – was better and more thorough than any eye examination he had received in the US Hospital system! I do not think we could have been treated any better and I hope that NHS Management at QMC will read this and pass on these thoughts and gratitude to the 3 individuals who served us so well and who are shining examples of the NHS at its absolute best. Great teamwork - thank you so much!