"Good A&E, poor orthopaedics"

Attended with my son who had had a cricket ball smash into knee/thigh.

The A&E staff were very organised, thorough, kind and attentive. However, the on call orthopaedic registrar was abrasive and dismissive and conducted only a very brief examination of my sons leg. He diagnosed a torn ACL which would probably require surgery and referred him for an MRI. Bearing in mind the nature of the injury this did seem surprising to me and the A&E nurse who had examined him was also surprised. The A&E staff had put my sons leg in a brace and gave him crutches. The orthopaedic registrar told him to start using his leg and weight bearing when he was able pending an MRI which would be at least several weeks.

Fortunately we were able to obtain a second opinion at another hospital two days later. On physical examination a suspected micro fracture to his femur was diagnosed and this was confirmed by an urgent referral for an MRI. My son is now thankfully receiving the correct treatment. Had we relied on the orthopaedic registrar at Pembury, he could have suffered long lasting damage to his leg.