"Great standard of care with brilliant staf"

After 3 weeks of pretty terrible abdominal pain, my GP decided I needed to be seen urgently by the Surgical Assessment Team at NPH. I admit I was pretty unhappy about her choice of Hospital, as in the past, I hadn't always had the best experiences when visiting this hospital as a patient or visitor, however, on this occasion I have to say, my eyes were well and truly opened to the extreme pressure the Doctors and Nurses have to work under. My GP called the SAU and I was told to go straight to the hospital, I have to say that in the 10 hours I was there, I witnessed just how hard the Doctors and Nurses work, the environment is by its very nature exceptionally busy, and as well as simply "trying to do their jobs", the staff are constantly being interrupted, even harassed by relatives demanding updates, calls from other units trying to secure beds ect, not to mention the constant demands from the patients themselves. The co-ordination & juggling required by all the staff to keep the unit running as well as it does was mind boggling, and yet they did this with total professionalism, a kind and caring manner, and with clear dedication to their patients. All the staff worked exceptionally well together and you were made to feel as though the staff genuinely cared about your well being. Yes you are going to be waiting around to be seen, but this is simply down to the sheer volume of patients, and under the circumstances, I don't think the staff get the credit they deserve. I was sent home after 10 hours but during that time I had been examined by a Doctor and Senior Registrar and had various tests. An appointment was made for me to go back the next day for a scan, so in the space of 2 days I was thoroughly examined, taken care off exceptionally well, and had an explanation for the cause of my pain. I can't praise the staff of this unit highly enough, and would just ask people to try and be objective in their opinion of this hospital in future, as I don't think anyone really appreciates just how very pressurised an environment the staff work under. And I would personally like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Consultants and all the nursing staff who in my opinion do an amazing job and deserve a medal.