"I will always be grateful to the staff"

I was admitted to Medway Hospital into intensive care in February 2015. I had been advised by my Doctor to go to A&E as I was having some difficulty breathing. After the initial review in A&E I was examined by several Doctors and it was determined that I had a collapsed left lung, pneumonia and ketosis from my diabetes condition.

As there was not a bed available in Intensive Care when I was first admitted I was kept in A&E for around 12 hours but during that time I was under constant care from the Doctors and Nurses in A&E and kept informed of what was happening.

I was then transferred from A&E into an intensive care bed where I received treatment for my condition.

As this was my first experience of a hospital – it was very scary – I had fortunately never been ill before and the Doctors and Nurses kept me advised of my progress during the first few days in ICU.

I was then transferred to a High Dependency Unit where I was cared for by an excellent team of Doctors and Nurses and received visits from several different Consultants.

My condition was such that I needed to remain in High Dependency for a number of weeks until my medical conditions had improved sufficiently for me to be transferred into a normal ward. Again my experience of the care received could not be praised highly enough.

Eventually after 10 weeks I was transferred to St Barts for physiotherapy care for 2 weeks before being discharged in May 2015.

I would like to thank all of the medical staff who cared for me during my long stay in hospital – their care and support during a very traumatic time made my stay in hospital bearable. The sense of humour of the staff kept spirits high during a difficult time for me and my family. I would also like to thank all of the support staff – from cleaners to the catering staff – who were always cheerful and helpful.

I will always be grateful to the staff at Medway Hospital – who not only saved my life but gave me such great care and support during my illness – I cannot praise them highly enough. They do a very difficult job with professionalism and respect for the patients and we do not always thank them as much as we should for the great work they do.