"Efficient and impeccable care from Hannah"

Last Sunday I went to pull some rhubarb for a crumble. I had sharpened a knife to cut off the leaves as usual. The first piece I tried to pull resisted strongly, I was pulling it with my right hand. I pulled harder and it suddenly came free. I fell backwards onto some paving, luckily I hadn't been hurt, I thought, As I got up I noticed there was a lot of blood coming from my left hand and I saw a very deep cut at the base and side of my left finger. I had stupidly had the sharp knife in that hand and the fall backwards caused the knife to to be driven into that place.

It was obvious that it was serious enough to need stitches. Luckily we had some wound dressings in our First Aid box and my wife and I were able to apply a dressing and cover this with a wad of kitchen paper to help staunch the bleeding. We bound this tightly.

Luckily I was quite able to drive to East Surrey Hospital's A&E. We arrived at 12. 45. At reception my details were taken, after about 1/2 hour we saw a triage nurse, who I would need stitches in the Minor Injuries dept. and there was currently about a 2 hour waiting time, I was also advised that if the bone was damaged I would have to have an X-ray.

The dept. was quite busy, and I was called in at about 3 pm. Luckily for me I was seen by a marvellous nurse, Hannah. She was so kind, very well organised and efficient. She looked at the cut and said it would need 5-6 stitches. She quickly administered an anaesthetic, checked a little later to make sure it had worked, and then put in 6 stitches beautifully, drawing the cut tightly together.

Hannah then gave me a replacement dressing to change on Tuesday, keep it dry and check it's not festering and have the stitches removed in 10/14 days if all's well, any problems I should come back or go to our Health Centre.

The whole surgical experience was impeccable. I experienced no great discomfort at all and knew it was a job well done. Please let Hannah know, thank you.