"Brilliant care at Ninewells A&E"

I was visiting Blairgowrie for the weekend with my partner and 15 month old son. On Friday evening my son got injured when he toppled over some drawers, smashing a bowl which cut his eyebrow open as it fell.

I was so shocked and panicked and had no idea what to do. Luckily my partner remained calm and cuddled our son while trying to administer some first aid while I tried to work out what to do. I called NHS24 on 111 but because it was before 6pm the automated message said to call my GP. I was 90 mins away from home so going to my GP wasn't an option. I googled local GPs and finally got through to a very helpful lady who I think was called Bernie, at Strathmore Surgery. She told me that there was a cottage hospital in Blairgowrie with a minor injuries unit and we should go there.

When we got to the cottage hospital we were met by two nurses (I've forgotten their names, sorry) who really calmed me down (my son was already calmed down/bordering on utterly unphased!). They had a look at the cut and said that it would be best to go to A&E where the doctors had more options for treating the cut.

We drove to Ninewells in Dundee and were triaged by a nurse called Mairead. She was great with our son  and put us further at ease. We had a short wait to see the doctor but the children's waiting room was lovely and bright and full of toys that it didn't feel like long. I think my son was starting to actually enjoy his visit to A&E by this point!

We were then seen by a doctor called Hannah. Again, she was great with us and our son and explained all the options to us so we could make a decision together about how best to proceed. I had a bit of a wobble when she mentioned sedation but she was so open and honest that she reassured me very quickly.

To avoid unnecessary treatment, we decided to try paper stitches first. Mairead and another nurse called Francis, along with my partner and I, tried to keep our son still and calm while Mairead applied them. They even joined in with twinkle twinkle little star!  Unfortunately, the stitches didn't stick to his eyebrow so we revaluated.

We spoke to another doctor called Jamie. He has some kind of hypnotic power over children – or my son at least – as he stayed stock still while Jamie examined him. We agreed to sedate our son so he could have (thread??) stitches. I lay on the bed cuddling my son while Jamie put the stitches in. He provided Peppa Pig on his phone for entertainment but my son was far too hypnotized by Jamie to look at the phone!

Within a few minutes of the procedure being completed, my son was back on his feet, running around and chasing after Jamie. We were given advice about aftercare then discharged.

The next morning our son was bright as a button and is oblivious to his injury. By Sunday evening it had even started to fully heal in some places. Children are just incredible!

Thank you so very much to Bernie, the two nurses at the cottage hospital, Mairead, Francis, Hannah and Jamie. I’m not going to recommend a visit to A&E but we had a brilliant experience with you and appreciate everything you did for us and our