"Such a great service"

My son had chicken pox. One afternoon he complained of a lot of pain under his arm. On examination, one of his pox was raised and very inflamed. I called our GP and had a very prompt call back and appointment made. Went in that afternoon and prescribed oral abx. Unfortunately he was not able to tolerate these as he was vomiting. The next day I called back and was seen within 30mins of call back. Abx were changed but again he couldn't tolerate these. He was promptly referred to the Acorn centre at AAH.

On arrival he was greeted and assessed by a nurse. Shortly after he was seen by Dr Humphries and decision was to admit for IV antibiotics. This was the first time we had used the Acorn Centre and it was such a great service. It was so efficient. Treatment was started there and my son was made comfortable and given something to eat. We were taken through ED to A2. This was at the time AAH was operating above capacity and I was so glad we did not have to ED. The Acorn Centre is an amazing facility. 

On admission to A2 my son, my husband and myself were greeted by the most professional and compassionate staff. My son had several hospital admissions as a baby and I was delighted to see this time that there were fold up beds for the parents to sleep on. 

The care received in A2 by the nurses and medical staff was outstanding. I was also given a business card with a telephone number I could call for 48 hours post-discharge. We actually did have to use this and thankfully a bit of sensible telephone advice prevented us having to represent back to the hospital. 

I would like to take this opportunity to pass on my heartfelt gratitude to all the staff from Maine Medical, Ahoghill, to the Acorn Centre at Antrim hospital, to the staff in A2. 

Thank you so much