"An incredibly nice, helpful, informative and kind referrals manager"

In early January I rang the Orthopaedic Assessment Service at the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust about a letter I’d received saying that I’d mistakenly been discharged from the service. I spoke to Juliette (Juliet?), who I think is the referral manager. She was so incredibly nice, helpful, informative and kind that I actually had a little cry with relief when I came off the phone.

Tomorrow I am having nerve root blocker injections to treat / isolate the source of the sciatica I have had for 14 months. I’m in such pain, and had felt nervous and worried about the procedure. Juliette (Juliet?) talked to me about her own experience with the same procedure, reassured me about everything that I was needlessly flapping about. She made sure that I was booked in for all the follow-up appointments, and listened to my anxious wittering with great kindness and humour.

I have been in pain for so long, I have an active young child, and am on pain medication that affects my memory and sleep, so everything sometimes feels a bit stressful when I have a stack of things to sort out. I am so grateful to her for not making me feel stupid, for making me laugh, and sorting everything out for me. I wanted to send her a card to say thank you, but realised that the address on the letter isn’t where she’s based.

Sorry this is so waffling (blame the medication!), I just really wanted to let someone know how great she is.

Thank you for everything - the NHS is our greatest asset.