"Fantastic surgeon, great hospital! "

In my view, my fantastic consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Hexham General Hospital literally saved my life, which had become virtually unbearable owing to an excruciating arthritic pain in one of my hips. I had been under the “care” of another NHS hospital for five years, during which time I had been fobbed off with offers of cortisone injections and with mantras about it being best not to rush surgery, had failed to be recalled for a promised, vital, consultation in 2019 (three years after the initial diagnosis), had suffered several cancellations (one of them being that of my hip replacement, scheduled for November 2020) and had been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent that I could hardly move and was unable to sleep. After being cruelly told by my consultant on 1st March 2021 that he couldn’t give me any indication as to when my hip replacement might actually go ahead (despite my being placed high on the priority list), I became utterly despondent and desperate. Mercifully, I then managed to summon enough mental strength to organise a transfer to the wonderful Hexham Hospital, whose fantastic consultant orthopaedic surgeon immediately recognised the severity of my arthritis and the need to treat it with the urgency it demanded. And, within a mere one month of receiving my GP’s referral, this brilliant man performed a successful (very successful) total hip replacement operation on me. Can you imagine: he accomplished this within a month without having any prior obligation to me, while my original hospital failed to help me over a five-year period – what an astonishing contrast! I do, of course, appreciate that the whole country has had to contend with the pandemic, but the contrast in the whole attitude between these two hospitals could not have been greater nevertheless. And all the other personnel with whom I have come into contact at Hexham Hospital have been brilliant in their own way: everything was organised extremely speedily and carried out most efficiently, and everybody was compassionate, kind, responsive and professional – including, of course, all the nursing staff on my ward. Mere words cannot express my gratitude to all these wonderful people, to whom I will remain indebted for as long as I live. Thank you all so very much!