"The emergency, medical & nursing care that I have received have been very good"

I had had symptoms of what I thought might be angina, although I preferred to think that it was not, for a few weeks.  The episodes grew more frequent & more severe so I called 111 & they called an ambulance.  It arrived fairly quickly & although I was asymptomatic the paramedic thought that I had had a heart attack & they took me in.

 I had a short wait at A&E before being taken in & assessed. I was having irregular periods of chest pain. I had no blood markers to indicate an MI but was showing arrhythmias on ECG. It took a few hours to decide to admit me.  There was no bed available so I was in A&E overnight.  I was well looked after.

I was moved on to EMU for a couple of days & then was an outlier on a general medical ward for another couple of days.  I was remotely monitored so when I had episodes of severe arrhythmia & the associated chest pain CCU must have been telephoning the ward & the staff would check on me.  One of the cardiology team would review me soon afterwards.

I had plenty of bloods taken.  Chest X-ray & echocardiogram. I had been started on beta-blockers but I was still getting symptoms.  After 5 days a bed became available & I was moved to a side room on CCU.  I think that I was now considered urgent & taken for angiogram.

The cardiologist had told me to be prepared for bad news but only two arteries were compromised.  The stenting had to be delayed for a few hours because there were two people who needed attention more urgently than me. After 2 stents I was kept in overnight. I was provided with plenty of useful literature.

As well as the cardiology consultant I was reviewed by the cardiac nurse specialist who answered questions & explained the rehabilitation programme.  The nursing & medical & technical care were very good throughout.

I was discharged with a big bag of medication & a workbook & a CD. I was told that I would get a follow-up telephone call by the nursing team.  This was very useful as was the workbook. I had the opportunity to ask questions & the workbook was very well thought out providing information & advice & an exercise programme & diary.  This was very good indeed because it gave you targets & allowed me to feel that I was making progress within a structure that was safe: I wasn't going to overdo it.  I had the confidence to exercise without having to wonder whether I was pushing myself unsafely.  It is packed with really useful information & advice.  

The follow up call allowed me to ask questions.  There was a wait of several weeks to start the exercise sessions due to high demand.  These have again proved very useful.  They are composed of people with varying age & fitness & tailored to any level so nobody feels stressed or left out.  There are warm-up exercises followed by 30 minutes of circuit training followed by a cool down led by a professional trainer who puts everybody at their ease.  Two highly experienced nurses are present running the sessions monitoring everybody.  This is very valuable because you learn how much you can do without risk & are there in case of emergency.  Tea & biscuits are provided afterwards, so there is a shared experience/social aspect as well.  Further gym sessions are available after the course is completed.

The emergency, medical & nursing care that I have received have been very good throughout the week I was admitted & several weeks of aftercare.  There have been delays caused by demand meeting insufficient resources but this is entirely understandable a not unreasonable because without the availability & intervention of the NHS I might be dead or at best severely unwell.