"RTA injuries"

I was involved in a RTA in November and suffered multiple injuries: -, fractured shoulder blade; 9x ribs; Hip socket; Pelvis; Wrist & thumb; Shattered Femur and collapsed lung. The care that I, and my family, received at the Balfour Hospital A&E, Orkney was absolutely brilliant. Those involved in my initial care were Dr Dorhn, Dr McDonald (locum from Elgin), Dr (Mrs) Fey, Nurses Linda Tait and Christine Groundwater. I was treated with respect and compassion. My family were kept fully I formed of my condition and treatment and allowed to see me when I had been stabilised.

I required further treatment at ARI which involved getting a specialised team flown from Glasgow by RAF helicopter, due to weather conditions the normal helicopter could not be used, then Air Ambulance fixed-wing to Aberdeen.

Again the care at Aberdeen was very professional and caring- MRI scans followed by operation to have a "nail" inserted into my Femur. I spent 4 days in HDU, the care again was excellent.

After being moved to a normal ward (46) it became evident that staff were over worked, any requests took an age to materialize. This is NOT a criticism of the staff, they were again excellent but extremely over worked and just could not spend enough time with individual patients that needed extra care.

The next 3 weeks were spent in ORU Woodend Hospital. Staff again were fantastic but again over worked especially during busy periods ie morning washing and breakfast; meal times etc.

Food was reasonably good but just not enough, I lost over 1stone (only 10 to start with) during my recovery and relied on visitors to bring some goodies to keep me going.

After 5 months I am well on the way to recovery with hopefully no permanent problems.