"Not the NHS i was expecting"

Having been very lucky so far in life I had only the media portrayal of the NHS to guide me as to what to expect. I broke my ankle skydiving near Shrewsbury and was extremely quickly attended by a first response car and then an ambulance. The staff were fantastic and i was very quickly taken to Shrewsbury a&e. I was very well attended to their, with my ankle being reset a number of times, with x rays in between. I was later transferred to Stepping Hill by request as we live locally and my family could not travel to visit me. It was late evening when we arrived at stepping hill, and we were met by a staff nurse who lead us straight to a side room of ward D4, where my family had been well looked after as they waited for me. I was offered food and drink immediately and told exactly what would happen next. The next day I was transferred to Ward D2 which is staffed by the most fantastic bunch of people imaginable, and I mean everyone from volunteers serving drinks and biscuit, tv repair men who stayed for a chat, cleaning staff who felt more like friends visiting by the end of the week, and gaggles of nurses who sounded like they were having enormous fun at all times, whether they were dealing with old blokes whinging about what time their cup of tea came or a frail old lady who apologised every time she needed to be taken to the bathroom. I was visited regularly by the surgical staff who always let me know what was going on and what to expect next, i was treated with respect at all times by the nursing team, and I cannot speak more highly of the ward care i received. I am now in the middle of outpatients appointments, and the same level of personal attitude is evident to me. Yes, the appointments times slip and you can wait a while, but the nurses are always careful to let you know whats going on and offer advice on waiting times, refreshments and car parking. I have never felt like any form of burden to any of the staff no matter how trivial (to me) the question or request I had. I tried to work out the cost of my treatment (terrifying) but the honest fact is that the personal service is far more important and was, frankly, Priceless! Thank you NHS