"Admission to Accident and Emergency at Good Hope Hospital"

My husband was in a life/death condition following an overdose on a morning in Mid June.

The service from the paramedics was outstanding; kind, courteous, constantly seeking medical advice via laptop and phone contact with the hospital, re-assuring but making no promises about his impending risk of death. I was able to contact family and put my people on high alert due to the excellent approach shown.

On arrival at A and E there could have been no better approach shown by all particularly in the Resuscitation Team. I recall particularly a registrar who is named Dr Hannah? ? ? and loved her kindly, professional and considerate help both in crisis and later on a ward.

Of particular note though is your nursing colleague Mr Thomas in A and E. This man is an absolute asset to your service and to society as a whole. He was calm, friendly, considerate of the patient and his supporters. He took special time out to talk to me about what had happened, how and to care outstandingly for my well-being. He gave a perfect amount of empathy, personal and professional experience and put my needs, both immediate and future, as high up his list of ever evolving priorities as he did the needs of my then critically ill husband.

I cannot acknowledge strongly enough the impact Mr Thomas had on me and on the outcome for my husband. Thanks to him I was able to interact with Psychiatric Services both at hospital and in the wider community and we are all now working to ensure he never has to visit A and E again in these circumstances.

The entire team were exemplary in their greeting, delivery, communication, referrals and decision making. I was also able to observe the team working with others and the service seemed consistently confident and designed to sustain life in an atmosphere of calm and compassionate service.

Later the next day we were visited by one of the Psych Team, name sadly not remembered. Again this man was courteous, attentive, facilitating and re-assuring to us both in equal measure.

I do have more constructive feedback about our experience on the ward, but this is maybe best done seperately as the experience was less positive.

Please ensure my testimony is passed on to all named and to the management of Good Hope