"I was put at ease by everyone"

I fell on a cruise ship, totally freak accident as my knee slipped off the edge of the bed (approx 2ft high) and I slipped onto the floor and my body weight went over on my ankle & foot and broke my fibula in 2 places and dislocated my ankle. The cruise ship put it back in place and put my leg in splints temporarily I then got driven home from dock by my insurance company.

I went to Kirkcaldy Victoria A&E and was seen very promptly, I was admitted for surgery next morning and in surgery within an hour, I was then in ward 33 for 2 days afterwards then discharged with follow-up care needed.

The care from the NHS was absolutely brilliant - from the excellent A&E staff who were brilliant, got the orthopaedic registrar immediately to check the X-rays I had done minutes before.

When I found out I needed surgery I was sent home as it was a Saturday and they didn’t know how busy they would be but would phone me between 8-9pm with a time and date for being admitted for surgery. Bang on 9pm I got the call to go to ward 33 for 8am the next morning and I was first in surgery.

I went at 8am and was being wheeled into surgery at 9am. I was back on ward 33 at 11:30am all 2 plates, numerous screws and with moon boot on. The staff offered me lunch and checked vitals every 15-20 mins that day. Every staff member - from consultants to staff nurses to trainee nurses - were brilliant. All very polite , very chatty and nothing was too much trouble . The food on the ward was also very nice too.

This being my first time in hospital, I was put at ease by everyone from anaesthetist to surgeon and all the nursing staff from A& E to the brilliant ward 33. It was an experience I don’t want to repeat but the staff helped massively and all I can say is thank you to them all and hope the other 3 older patients I shared the ward with all got home safely too.