"Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh"

Recently my son suffered his second seizure (the first had come out of the blue only 4 days earlier and this could be a similar story in itself)

999 was called and an ambulance swiftly arrived, after initial treatment he was transported to RIE, arriving around 17. 30hrs.

After initial triage he was sent to the waiting area. After some 2hrs he was seen by a Doctor, who again examined him followed by discharging him.

As we left the car park, he had a further seizure, we returned to A&E and he was again taken care off, this time immediately.

My son was then placed on a trolley bed and wheeled into the corridor near to the nurses station. We were informed that he would be kept in as a further seizure was anticipated. I should say at this stage that the Doctors, Nurses and other staff were very attentive, and were obviously working very hard.

So, at 20.00hrs he is on a trolley in the corridor, and remained so until 10.00 the next day (12 hours on this trolley and 16. 5 hours after first arriving by ambulance) Stepping back though, as anticipated by the Dr, my son did indeed suffer a further seizure at 04.00am whilst on the trolley. Again the staff worked very hard and treated my son for this third seizure of the night, however on his return from resuss, he again had to wait 6 hours, this time in an A&E bay until he was finally taken to the nearby medical ward, where he remained overnight until being transferred to the Western General Hospital, which by the way was a surgical ward and not a neurology ward which would clearly have been more appropriate.

At no time have I had cause to complain about the commitment and professionalism of staff, but surely Lothian Health Board must address the policy which creates only one A&E for Edinburgh and surrounding area, and at the same time closing hospitals such as Liberton and others which could help ease the burden. Clearly all this adds to the pressure and strain on staff at RIE and results in poor patient care or worse!

Putting all your eggs in one basket Lothian Health Board does not impress me.