"Exemplary Emergency Care"

I was admitted for emergency surgery via A&E and ESAC after kidney stone complications. I spent 3 nights in Montecute Ward under the excellent care of the nursing staff.

I am diagnosed autistic which makes hospital attendance more difficult due to high levels of anxiety and anticipatory pain. If I could provide one piece of constructive criticism, some staff training in handling autistic patients would have made my stay even more comfortable. This is not a criticism of the staff as they did exceptionally well in the circumstances however there were a couple of difficult experiences that I think could have been avoided had the staff been trained in dealing with autistic adults. It is a credit to the staff that they did so well despite the lack of awareness training. Since autism affects a growing number of people, this really should be considered as a priority.

I have to return for further surgery which nobody looks forward to however I hope to be looked after in Montecute by the same excellent professionals. I am often critical of the upper levels of NHS management but the first line staff are absolutely world class.