"Surgical emergency unit (SEU)"

I had an abscess removed (incision & drainage) under general anaesthesia on a Sunday morning (20th Nov) after being admitted on Saturday evening having been sent to the SEU by the out-of-hours GP. All my paperwork (consent form etc) and initial assessment was done in SEU triage on Sat evening, and since it was not a real emergency I was sent home over night. The nurse who did my assessment was lovely and very reassuring. They knew what they were doing and were efficient without rushing. They explained what they were doing and what would happen next. They also made sure I was comfortable (I was in a lot of pain), and that I could lie down until one of the surgeons was available, rather than sit/stand in the waiting area. There was a little bit of a wait for the doctor to see me before I could go home for the night, but this was due to a shift change and the resulting hand over time. When I arrived on Sunday morning, I was quickly seen by one of the anaesthetists who explain the procedure and did all the pre-surgery paperwork. They also noticed that I was still in a lot of pain and checked if they could move my operation forward. I would have been second but since they expected my operation to be really quick and straightforward, they were able to do it first. In no time at all I was moved down to the theatre. The nurse who accompanied me downstairs noticed that I was getting a bit nervous and reassured me. The two anaesthesists helped as well, as they were lovely and chatted away normally with me while explaining what they were doing, so it all seemed very low key, efficient and straight forward. As I had suffered from severe nausea after previous general anaesthetics, the anaethesist who had seen me earlier gave me advice to use pressure on my wrist if I felt nauseous afterwards. This worked really well, so I cannot thank them enough for mentioning this. I was in the ward for the rest of the day and again staff there were lovely. I felt well and was able to get up soon and walk around. The nurses were very encouraging when I passed them in the corridor. Me feeling ok and starting to walk fairly quickly (around lunch time) ensured than I was able to go home in the evening. Discharge was quick and efficient as well.