"Efficient, caring and considerate all of the staff were"

After having a really bad three days of severe pain in a very sensitive rear end, my AF decided to rear its head as well. I did what I normally would do, over a period of time took extra tablets to steady the racing scatty pulse.

However this day nothing helped and as the day progressed I got worse, heart rate up, chest pain, shortness of breath and waves of dizzy blackness. It was decided  I should go to the local hospital as I was actually getting a little frightened about feeling so unwell.

I'm new to the area having moved in just over a month and had no idea of how the hospital was going to be. I arrived at AE, explained I had chest pains etc. The receptionist was direct and filled out the basics and got a nurse to take me through to the beds immediately.

Straight away onto a heart monitor saw the result and phoned doctors, who came straight away. They quickly established what had been going on with both ongoing problems. I was never left and had doctors from AE, medical and surgical examining the various issues I presented; all the while the nurse was seeking to get the heart rate under control.

Bloods were taken along with chest X-ray. After a long time on drips I finally had a bit of a wobble, near black out, my heart rate went from over 130 to 60 beats and straight back into sinus rhythm.

This was a bit of a shock but felt really good after a slight panic. I was monitored for a couple of hours, during which time a surgical specialist examined the rear end issue, making a diagnosis and saying I will be attending his clinic to sort this issue out at a later date.

I was then sent to a medical ward waiting to be checked again. This happened later by two very nice doctors who took a long time to check me from head to toe asking many probing questions. I was finally allowed to go home just about midnight feeling very much better. The thing that struck me was how prompt, efficient, caring and considerate all of the staff were. I felt they were all confident and I felt safe after arriving feeling scared and a little panicked.