"Father and son both in A&E"

I was waiting to go with my elder son to a football match.

He was up at the Royal Free hospital getting some jabs before a trip to Asia. I took a call from the hospital, asking me to confirm I was his Dad. Then a heart-stopping moment when they said there had been an accident and he had been taken to A&E. He had slipped and cut his head badly on a hard floor.

I rushed up to the hospital. Unfortunately I have a habit of fainting in hospitals and as I arrived I was telling myself I had to be strong for my son, and not faint. Unfortunately the moment I saw him, hooked up to a drip, pale as a sheet, his head cut, I knew I was onto a loser. I said to the doctor I needed to sit down.

But before I reached a chair I crashed onto the bed next to his. We were in the blue tone zone for emergencies. Four beds - half of them taken by one family!

The nurse looking after my son was suddenly looking after me and I could vaguely hear my son asking what had happened to me? Apparently my pulse went really low so they insisted on getting in a heart specialist. I tried to explain I was just squeamish and had often fainted before - I fainted there when my wife had an amniocentesis once - but they insisted I had all sorts of checks.

We ended up both being kept in for observation, and the care was absolutely fantastic.