"Cardiac problem Emergency Department."

I had both poor and very good experiences whilst having investigations for a cardiac problem. I was admitted by ambulance in the early hours to the Emergency Department at Kingsmill Hospital - sadly my experience there was really poor, apart from a short review with a nurse and then some time later even shorter one by a doctor I was placed in a cubicle and remained there for about 4 hours for a bed. During that time I saw no one apart from one staff member who briefly came in and walked out again and seemed surprised I was there.

I alternated between sitting on a hard chair and trying to sleep on the hard trolley which had no pillow or blanket.

I was admitted with chest pain and a very irregular and at times fast heart rate but had observations of these recorded only a few times shortly after admission. I was not told how to contact staff and had no water available and no one seemed to walk down the isles between the cubicles.

I am a NHS worker on an acute hospital ward and know we are all really busy and short staffed but I think for no one even to see if I was OK was really poor.

Thankfully the next time I had a rapid irregular heart beat I was taken to QMC A&E department and transferred to resuscitation room with exactly the same symptoms and the care received there was excellent.

Sorry to complain as have had excellent service from cardiology out-patients at Kingsmill but my A&E experience was a night from hell.

Thankfully now all is sorted as was referred to Trent Cardiac Unit.