"My Daughters hospital admission"

My daughter is 3 years old and when we woke up one morning we couldn’t get her to wake up, it was 7am and she’s normally up and eating breakfast at 5am.

I phoned NHS24 who referred us to A& E at St Johns hospital, the care she received was fantastic. Her BM had dropped to 2.1 but Matt (a junior doctor, I’m sure?) worked very quickly to ensure she received the treatments she needed and explained everything that was going on in detail to me and answered any questions I had without making me feel like we were holding him back from other jobs, especially when the department was so busy. We were quickly treated and moved up to the children’s ward and were met by Marianne, and the other nurses (Sorry, I can’t remember the other names!!).

Marianne chatted away to my daughter and commented on her nail polish, and made her feel at ease the full duration of our stay, but most importantly introduced her to Laura, who she still refers to as the Toy Doctor. I have ulcerative colitis and often spend time in the hospital either for overnight stays or for outpatient appointments, and will be going for a big operation this year and my daughter can find this very distressing and feels the hospital in a negative place but after her experience of having a “sleepover at the hospital” she now realises that the hospital is nothing to worry about and now expects there to be a fantastic Toy Doctor on standby after my op! !

I am so thankful to all of the staff who cared for her, especially Marianne, because if we ever need the children’s ward again I know that my girls will be in the safest hands. The team are very lucky to have a newly qualified nurse who is so fantastic at making her patients and their families feel relaxed whilst also making sure they have everything they need. We are also extremely thankful for Laura who made her stay more child friendly and ensured that she had access to plenty of activities to keep her busy and distracted from the BM checks!

Since coming home, she has been telling all of our family and friends how cool the hospital is and how Laura and Marianne, “her doctors”, were so kind to her and how they even looked after all the babies whilst looking after her. She won’t always remember her stay, but her Dad and I will and we are so thankful that it was such a positive experience for us all, despite her being unwell, but we will always remember the outstanding level of care we received. Thank you to everyone who looked after her, and to Dr Pitel for continuing her care after her discharge. We are so lucky to have such an amazing paediatric team close by. Thank you again! !