"Breaking my ankle"

I broke my ankle at the start of the summer holidays.

I was treated at the DGRI in Dumfries, and I was very lucky not to need surgery, just a cast over the summer.

The staff were all really friendly, in particular the nurses in the orthopaedic outpatient ward, the porters and the xray staff. The younger doctor I saw was also super friendly and had great bedside manner.

I wanted to pass on a couple of observations though about the environment, travelling between orthopaedics outpatients and the xray department in a wheelchair several times over the course of my treatment.

Firstly, the porters had to climb past me to push buttons to open the various doors we went through, stopping, starting and apologising each time. This seems really silly in such a new build. I would like to see either supermarket style automatic doors or the buttons in a place suitable for the porters to hit them.

Secondly, the doors are only barely wide enough for the wheelchairs to go through and while I was in the xray department, I saw doors propped open with a bottle of solution, folded bits of card and in one case a box. The staff don't to this to deliberately break fire regulations, but to cope with an unsuitable environment. So I would like the whole doorway situation to be looked at.

Finally, the porters cannot see oncoming traffic down the corridor as they leave the bays pushing people. Again, they have to stop, start, lean past you, apologise. I think it could all be so much smoother if you just installed a couple of parabolic mirrors.

Thanks for listening, I'm very grateful to all the staff who were there for me when I really need them.