"A big thank you to the NHS"

Last Thursday I underwent a 20 minute outpatients procedure at the RUH Bath. It came with all the usual warnings to sign off to but you never think anything of that will happen to you.

On Saturday afternoon I was alone at home putting the Christmas tree up when I began to feel a bit shaky. It rapidly turned into uncontrollable tremors and it took me about 5 minutes to get to the phone page on my mobile and dial 999. Whilst talking to them the shakes were so bad that I kept slapping the side of my face with the phone. They advised that the quickest way to be seen was to be taken into the RUH by someone as there was a long ambulance wait. Presumably they though it was not a life and death situation.

I phoned my wife and she rushed me into the RUH where I was fast-tracked through A&E, examined, bloods taken, x-rayed and put on an antibiotic drip within an hour. They suspected that it was something to do with the recent surgery. Within a very short time they found me a bed and I was installed in the ward. That night I had a further attack with massive shaking and a sudden temperature rise to 40.2C. The doctors quickly attended and calmed my body down. Unfortunately the tremors were so violent I got a very bad groin strain, which still causes a lot of pain today. A third attack the next night saw my temperature peak at 40.6C (105.1F for you old folk out there!). Over Monday and Tuesday they continued investigating and confirmed that I had a particularly nasty E.Coli type bug, which required a strong antibiotic IV drip over 14 days. Thanks to having a local district nurse IV team I was able to leave on Thursday with the prospect of daily visits for drips until early in the new year.

You probably don't need to know all that but the only reason for telling my story is to say what a wonderful job the NHS carried out. There were no queues of patients on trolleys waiting for a bed as the press so often makes out. The professionalism and care shown throughout the whole episode was amazing. The consultants and doctors who visited me were all so pleasant and genuinely concerned. The nurses and care assistants were brilliant, always smiling, responding to any request and reacting quickly as each emergency arose. They carry out a very difficult job in wards where many patients are seriously ill, elderly and unable to do anything for themselves.

I'm now home looking forward to Christmas. Yes there are still issues, I'm not allowed to touch a drop of alcohol even on Christmas Day, food goes straight through me due to the antibiotics and I get very very tired but I'm home thanks to all of the hospital staff's dedication. Thank you so much!!