"Great A&E"

Anything else?

I went to the A&E department at around 11pm on a Saturday night suffering from crippling stomach pain and a highly swollen abdomen. I was seen to quickly by the receptionist and told to take a seat. I settled down with my book, fully expecting a long wait, but was called in to see the nurse within around 40 minutes. Once the nurse had assessed me, she took me straight through to the main ward and put me into a cubicle to wait for a doctor. Again, I anticipated a long wait, but the doctor came to the room within 5 minutes, and proceeded to give me a full examination. He then had a nurse come in and draw some blood for tests, and do some other tests on me (blood pressure, ECG, scans etc) I was then taken off for some X Rays and brought back to my room. Once I was back, the doctor came back and gave me a full explanation of why they had done all the tests, what they had determined and what the course of action was going to be. I was allowed to go home with specific instructions and medication, and felt a lot better than I had when entering A&E about 4 hours earlier. All together, everyone I encountered in A&E was fully professional and efficient, but also warm and friendly, making what was a slightly scary situation much more bearable. I'd like to send out my sincere thanks to my nurses, the radiographer and mostly to the doctor, for helping me so much and being so kind and friendly. This is why I am a strong supporter of the NHS, as their staff do a great job on a service which is free for all (I know that taxes do pay for it, but it is essentially free as you'd have to pay tax even if it didn't exist!) and sometimes in the face of adversity. Thanks to all the staff at the Royal Free on Saturday 18th May night shift!