"AED in the WHSCT in Northern Ireland"

Unfortunately had to take my Uncle through AED on Friday afternoon. I just want to highlight my admiration and heartfelt thanks to every staff member we encountered in our 48 hours.

Presenting to an already overstretched department is daunting when all you want is the best for your family member. I watched over a period of 48 hours how staff bustled around tending to every patient according to clinical need/urgency. I watched staff forfeit meal breaks to tend to the needs of patients.  I watched AED sisters Ann Marie and Clodagh juggle bed/capacity within the department to keep pts and staff safe. I listened horrified as relatives and patients verbally abused staff about waiting times and staff humbly apologised like it was there fault..

I acknowledge our system feels broken, and it is difficult to wait on a chair for hours to get  a bed allocated, but I also feel very thankful that I was able to walk through the doors of a service who I knew had the skills to help.

So to every staff member my uncle had the pleasure to meet (especially nurses Rejoice and Rachel) the Doctors, auxiliary staff, porters and cleaners I want to say a huge thankyou and please never underestimate the impression your kind actions and words  leave on family/pts. 

For those who are reading this my Uncle was discharged back to the care of his family 48 hours after presenting to AED for further follow up. It will take a while to build him up but we are on the road to recovery