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My broken hip & recovery

Posted By Ardglass

"My broken hip & recovery"

About: Downe Hospital / Ward 1 Northern Ireland Ambulance Service / Emergency ambulance response The Ulster Hospital / Emergency Department The Ulster Hospital / Ward 5A

(as the patient),

At 11.30pm one night mid February 2022, a freak accident just outside my house caused me to fall onto my right side and I knew straight away I had done major damage. I was pretty sure I had probably broken my hip.

I managed to crawl indoors and get to a phone and dial 999. This was at midnight. The emergency ambulance eventually arrived at 5.30am which is disgraceful considering the chances of internal bleeding from a broken hip.

Having said that the paramedic and the EMT were great and made me as comfortable as possible for the 30 mile journey to the Ulster Hospital.

Once there i was taken straight to a bay in A&E and the staff there were fantastic - nothing was too much trouble.

After a few hours in A&E I was transferred to ward 5 and was told my surgery to repair my broken would be the next morning.

Medical staff explained my surgery in great detail and nursing staff made me comfortable.

Surgery over and I wake up in the recovery room and after a few hours back to my room.

My stay in the Ulster Hospital was about 18 days and during that time all the staff were nothing short of amazing, especially the nursing staff with whom I had most contact - nothing was too much trouble.

And the FOOD ? it was ok - a 5/10.

My travels continue, and onto the Downe Hospital, ward 1, bay 3.

I was here for about a week and again all the staff were amazing especially nursing, day shift and night shift. They made my stay so much more bearable, so a big big thanks to them.

Now back home and continuing my long road to recovery. 

Thanks for listening

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Responses

Response from Katharine Dane, Assistant Director of Surgery, Surgery - Operational Support, South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust 3 years ago
Katharine Dane
Assistant Director of Surgery, Surgery - Operational Support,
South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust

Submitted on 18/03/2022 at 15:52
Published on Care Opinion at 15:52

Hi Ardglass, Thanks you so much for your lovely post. I am very pleased to hear that you were comfortable, felt informed and also that you found the staff to be amazing. I think they are pretty amazing too.

I shall make sure that your kind words are shared with the various teams involved in your care.

I wish you well in your ongoing recovery.

Best regards

Katharine

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Response from Jennifer Nicholson, Lead Nurse - Emergency Care, Emergency Medicine - A&E, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust 3 years ago
Jennifer Nicholson
Lead Nurse - Emergency Care, Emergency Medicine - A&E,
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust

Submitted on 18/03/2022 at 16:03
Published on Care Opinion at 16:03

HI Ardglass

Thank you for sharing your story. Good to hear you are on the road to recovery and I hope that doesn't take too long.

I will share your thanks with the team in the Emergency Department who will appreciate you taking the time to pass on your kind comments.

Best Wishes

Jenny

Interim Lead Nurse ED

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Response from Neil Gillan, Co-Production & Partnership Lead, Quality, Safety & Improvement, Northern Ireland Ambulance Service 3 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Neil Gillan
Co-Production & Partnership Lead, Quality, Safety & Improvement,
Northern Ireland Ambulance Service

Submitted on 21/03/2022 at 10:13
Published on Care Opinion at 10:29

picture of Neil Gillan

Dear Ardglass

Thank you for taking the time to share you recent experience with us. I am sincerely sorry for the delay in the ambulance response time following your fall. In recognition of the need to improve the response to people who have fallen, work in progressing with NIAS to try to ensure we provide a timely response, appropriate care and treatment.

In order to improve our response times, we are working closely with the Department of Health and the Health and Social Care Board to increase our available resources. We are also working with local EDs to try to ensure that our patients can be handed over to hospital clinical teams as quickly as possible so that ambulances are able to respond to further emergencies.

It was reassuring to also hear of the professionalism and level of care provided by the paramedic, the EMT and the staff in both the Ulster and Downe Hospitals.

I wish you the best with your recovery.

Best wishes

Neil

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