"Outstanding care in A&E"

This story is being published by Healthwatch Oldham on behalf of someone who wishes to remain anonymous. Any feedback provided to this story will be communicated with the individual involved.

I recently had to take my Mother to Accident and Emergency at Royal Oldham Hospital because I was very concerned as she was only lasting 3 hours on her inhalers and had been getting noticeably worse over the previous week.

On arriving at the Accident and Emergency Department I went to the reception area - the staff were brilliant, efficient, and quick.

Within 10 minutes of arriving my mother was seen by the triage nurse who was so helpful and did all the checks whilst we sat there, she also made a call to nursing staff insisting that my mum needed a cubicle straight away. We were then asked to go back to the waiting area. We had just got there when my mother’s name was called out and we were taken to the cubicle.

The doctor came to see my mother within 5 minutes of getting to the cubicle and explained the situation to us. He then got all the tests underway including Electrocardiograph, Blood tests and X-RAY.

A porter took my mother to the X-ray department and again was very helpful and friendly. All the staff we came in to contact with during the tests were amazing, they took time to explain what was happening and to reassure us.

Following the tests and examination we were told that my mother could go home, this was the best part of the overall experience because they were so reassuring about her health and explained everything to us before discharging her. They also advised me that just because she had been discharged it didn’t mean that we couldn’t come back, as symptoms can change / deteriorate.

They put my mother on Steroids and gave medication to treat a chest infection. The A and E Doctor also said that he wanted to check that her GP Practice had my mother on the correct dosage for her condition and that he would write to the Practice to ensure that this was in order.

It was such a relief to have a positive experience with caring staff who were efficient, reassuring and provided us with a diagnosis and treatment in such a short space of time.