"I was genuinely impressed with the treatment I was given"

This story relates to a totally unexpected and unplanned visit to the Cardiac Assessment Unit which is a walk-in facility attached to the large County Hospital in Omagh, where I was given 5 star treatment from every member of staff that I interacted with.

Following a steadily increasing amount of discomfort centred around my heart, often after manual exertion, I finally decided that I should get some sort of professional help.

I felt as if I was approaching that Heart Attack/Stroke zone which was a line that I hadn’t planned to cross just yet. I had accidentally discovered that this unit exists only a month earlier and had no preconceived ideas about its capabilities.

The Hospital is well signposted and easy to find and even has a free part to the car park most welcome. Having found the Cardiac Assessment Unit and reported to reception, I was asked to take a seat and was fully expecting the usual 2- 4 hour wait however a friendly face appeared after 2 minutes, called my name and led me to a private room where I was interviewed and hooked up to various pieces of equipment for ECG, blood pressure measurements and more.

Prior to entering the room, I noticed a red framed award on the wall which had been earned by the local staff for excellent conduct - can’t be bad.

Unfortunately, the ECG results told another story and showed Atrial Fibrillation which meant that I was to be confined to barracks until the condition normalised with the aid of medication.

I had no phone chargers, changes of clothing, wash kit, toothpaste etc however the staff found me everything they could to make me comfortable.

Tea and toast kept arriving and (without ringing any bells or even asking).

I was also given various reading material to help me understand the workings of the heart and solid commercial advice on what medical gadgets to buy. For example I can now obtain my ECG and heart rate readings in moments with an inexpensive unit which blue tooth's to my phone and gives a real time waveform which is then interpreted for you. That unit is FDA approved. There are various wearable smartwatches which do similar things and gather a history of your condition - could be useful.

I was genuinely impressed with the treatment I was given, both professionally and through kindness empathy and care, enough to ask if there was a feedback process for me to share my experiences with others and hence this post.

Thank you Omagh Cardiac Assessment Unit.