I was admitted at the beginning of April from home, 111 sent an ambulance as I had all the symptoms of a heart attack. It turns out I had perimyocarditis. However, when the paramedic arrived they told me I was fine, was incredibly condescending and tried her best to dissuade me from going to hospital- saying it would be a 9 hour wait before anyone would see me. Luckily I knew something was wrong and asked them to take me anyway, but I really do have to flag this behaviour up - I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't have gone.
Apart from that however, the a&e staff were fantastic. They were rammed, obviously through no fault of their own, and did their best to look after me. I was in A&E for 17 hours and although that is an incredibly long time, I have no bad feelings about it- I could see they were working so hard and there simply wasn't a bed suitable for me on the ward. I eventually got there though and has fantastic care (on the whole) for my 5 day stay. Thank you GWH for potential saving my life! And please look into paramedic compassion- I'm sure they had a preconceived idea that I was faking a panic attack or something, they were really quite rude and if it hadn't have been an emergency my partner and i have both agreed we'd have asked them to leave. On the whole, however, GWH does a brilliant job and their staff are very caring and passionate about their role.
"A&E brilliant, paramedic really wasn't."
About: The Great Western Hospital The Great Western Hospital Swindon SN3 6BB
Posted via nhs.uk
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