"Brilliant under pressure - well done A&E"

I attended NMGH A&E on Friday morning, with a huge, very painful and very swollen dental abscess. Mindful that some A&E departments "don't do dental" I was a bit apprehensive I would be treated like a timewaster and packed off to the Emergency Dental Service (with whom I had been trying to get an appointment for the previous 4 days....).

I was welcomed by friendly reception staff and took a seat in the (admittedly already very busy at 9am) waiting room. It was disappointing to hear fellow patients swearing and shouting at the rumoured "16 hour" wait time that was being bandied about; all the staff coming into the waiting room dealt with this in a very professional manner.

I was then called with about 4 other patients to come through into Minors and was promptly seen by one of the Consultants. They examined me, took blood and put in a cannula then I was straight through to X-ray to have an image taken of my jaw. Back into Minors, straight into a treatment cubicle where I was immediately given oral pain relief and a lovely nurse (looking after all 15 minors patients, poor nurse) gave me some IV antibiotics. The Consultant then explained they were referring me to Max-Fax and bleeped them straight away. About half hr later I seen by the Max-Fax doctor, who'd already reviewed my blood results and X-ray (the wonders of technology!). They explained what they were going to do (give me a local anaesthetic and then lance the gum) and was calm, kind and professional during the rather unpleasant but not too painful procedure. He took the time to explain what I needed to do in terms of after care, gave me a prescription for more antibiotics and that was me done. Start to finish - in and out and relieved of my terrible pain in about 4 hours.

As an A&E nurse myself, I know the pressures staff are working under (especially when dealing with drunken hecklers in the waiting room and the overload of people that seem to treat hospitals as their own personal place to sober up after a night out, and I was extremely impressed with both the speed and kindness with which I was treated.

I would not hesitate to recommend this hospital to family and friends - well done!