"A&E followed by 4 night stay"

Anything else?

The A&E reception is pretty awful. The male staff member was dismissive, English was clearly not his first language is he had to have everything repeated. He completely ignored the emergency letter given to me by my gp for the registrar. When asked about waiting times and how patients are prioritised he was damn right rude and dismissive. Not a good start. The 25 min wait time was not too bad. After this initial poor start I found 'nearly' everyone else to be efficient. Out of my 4 night stay I really want to point out what I see as the great service from the Outreach Nurses I received on ward 16a. They were following a process called the National Early Worning Score Sysytem. Frankly after many years of admissions and potentially life threatening mistakes I found this system to be brilliant! for a number of reasons. For example; I myself have a really serious condition which threatens my life on a regular basis. The probmlem I have is 'first impressions'. I look younger than my age, have clear skin, speak well - even when in pain and therefore would seem at glance to be a lower priority. But if you saw my medical results, blood work, blood pressure etc without seeing me any doctor in the land would know I was high risk patient who needs clear immedite attention. Cleary these factor cause a conlfict which I and many other patieints experince all the time. What impressed me about the NEWS sysytem is that it eliminates all preconceived ideas about what a doctor or nurse thinks an ill patient is, looks like or sounds like. It is impartial. Complete the chart, look at the score and follow it. (Excellent). It doesn't matter if the nurses or doctors for a patieint change due to shift patterns etc. It stops people like me falling through the net out what is clearly a very volnurable and dangerous time for them. Don't wait. Roll it out everywhere and save more lives, quicker.