"My cardiac arrest looked after with quiet efficiency"

I had been watching football on TV when I began to have strange sensations in my chest. I asked my wife to take me to Lewisham A&E as I knew something was not right.

I was seen straight away in an assessment room. Within a few minutes I suddenly felt cold and clammy and remember someone putting something under my tongue. The next thing I remember was waking up in a different room wondering what all the fuss was about.

I later found out was nearly 5 hours that I had been unconscious and that my heart had stopped. My wife told me later that the staff there all just moved with a purpose, quietly and efficiently and my heart was restarted. I spent the next week in cardiac care unit Lewisham before having angioplasty at King's. I was able to go home about 2 weeks after the event, and there was staged aftercare.

Without a doubt I would not have survived had I been forced to go further than Lewisham for treatment!