"The treatment we have received from Torbay..."

Anything else?

At a time of “goodwill to all men”, there does not seem to be very much of it directed towards the NHS in general when you look at the various media outlets, in fact the main objective seems to be to castigate the whole system and everyone within it, which is why I decided to write this letter to you and recount our experiences at your hospital over the past few years. Both my wife and I are in our 70’s, and in relative terms, quite healthy, we have lived in Dartmouth for 20 years and during that period we have visited Torbay Hospital, as either out-patients, or in my wife’s case, in-patient. We have arrived at various times of the day and night, and at different times of the year, and on every single occasion we have received excellent service from every member of staff we have met. My last occasion was when I, rather stupidly in my opinion, had a fall in the garden of some 8 feet and had a large gash in my head, 8 stitches required. I initially went to Dartmouth Hospital, where again the service was first class, and then by ambulance to your establishment. It was obviously a very busy period in the hospital, but staff coped tremendously well and I soon found myself in the correct waiting room. It was apparent from the number of times that I was asked for my DOB, that all the staff recognised the potential danger of ‘head injuries’, and expressed concern about any pain I was experiencing, offering to treat it if it became too excessive. All very professional and caring. I was eventually seen by a doctor who arranged for me to be X-rayed and to have a CT scan of my head, my wife believed it was empty anyway, after the results came through the doctor cleaned me up and stitched my head, he also gave my wife a very helpful leaflet and a lot of practical advice for when we were at home. The total time from arriving at the hospital, to leaving the hospital, was approximately 3 hours, which I think is brilliant. Harry & Jo Escott