"I collapsed, what happened next?"

I recently had an episode in my home which triggered a number of responses and actions. These are briefly detailed as follows:

After telephoning 999 an ambulance from the York area arrived just 15 minutes later and the medics Andy, Connor and a trainee set about establishing my situation which resulted in me being transported to York Hospital. On the way however we stopped at our local pharmacy to change one of my packs of medication which had been erroneously given a few days before. Fortunately I was yet to start that pack but the medics had already done a full check of my prescriptions.

On arriving at the hospital I had another episode and when I regained consciousness a short while later I was already in a Resus bay, wired up to monitors and with a drip in place. I spent most of the day in Resus, being regularly checked and even being visited by the ambulance crew who brought me in.

Later in the day I was admitted to Ward 22 where I was made very comfortable and spent a relatively peaceful and uneventful night. The following day found me again being well cared for and during the afternoon whilst being visited by a doctor to discuss my symptoms a senior nurse from the Cardiac Care Unit arrived and informed me that I would transfer to that department for further tests and observations, which duly happened later that day.

I had both tests and discussions, conducted by senior doctor Szymeczko and it was agreed that as soon as it was possible I would have a loop monitor fitted. This happened mid-afternoon on the Monday, after which I was discharged to make (hopefully) a full recovery at home.

The Monday afternoon minor surgical treatment was handled calmly and efficiently by staff who made the event pretty painless!

Whilst small in the grand scheme of things, and probably very commonplace for the hospital, it contextualises what I want to say next.

And that is that I cannot but say a huge thank you to the NHS, the Ambulance Service in York and all the staff at the York Hospital. At every point of the process I was met by professional, good-humoured and caring staff who gave me the best care possible. But it went further than that, my wife who was visibly distressed in those early stages was well cared for too and when it came to visiting me was given every assistance possible to make visiting easy.

As most of my stay was in the CCU, it was those staff I got to know best and to whom I will always be grateful: (I may get names wrong or I have forgotten some, sorry if I missed you out ) Glen who gave me such great detail of my potential condition whilst also giving his trainee staff the benefit of his excellent teaching skills; nurse Ben very calm and re-assuring; trainee Emily who was so good (I really hope she goes on to greater things; she has qualities yet to be discovered) and many others whose names I would find difficult to pronounce correctly, or even spell but no less important to my well-being. And of course Dr Szymeczko whose expertise and calm assurance helped to cement my trust in the process.

In my case, I have to say I feel and believe my treatment to have been outstanding.

Please be kind enough to ensure that everyone who needs to, receives notice of my views.