"We were treated absolutely amazingly"

My 6 year old autistic son was in RACH for a tooth extraction recently, and as a mum I was extremely anxious about how things would go.

From the outset we were treated absolutely amazingly, nothing was too much for anyone and everyone was very compassionate and understanding about the situation. My son was not forced to put on a gown for theatre as they knew this would upset him. The play nurse got him his favourite dinosaurs and although he did not want to interact with her, she was extremely friendly and helpful. The nurses on the ward were fantastic and when he showed signs of being uncomfortable and upset during his blood pressure monitoring they stopped to not upset him even more. The anaesthetist assured me he had read all of my sons notes and was in agreement that the mask should be used, but that he didn’t think that would be enough and he offered him to have a pre-med sedative. He assured me that even if he spat it out that it would work wonders, and he was absolutely right! It made the whole process much easier because prior to this, my son was very distressed, upset, unsettled and couldn’t settle or relax. The sedative made him sleepy and he slept throughout the process of getting the mask on, again which made everything a much more relaxed experience for me and my son. The dentist was fantastic and assured me he wasn’t going to attempt to examine my sons teeth whilst he was awake as he was aware that would cause him so much upset when he could just do it whilst asleep. He kept me updated once the exam had been done and confirmed it was only one tooth that needed extracted and then asked for my consent to do so. 

When in recovery the nurses couldn’t be any friendlier and explained everything to me. The porters who took us back to the ward were fab and once there, the staff couldn’t do any more. Allowed my son to come round after his sedation slowly and offered us a bed upstairs if he required it.

From something I was dreading, it turned out a very positive experience and I genuinely am so thankful for the NHS and RACH Day Ward staff who really are absolute angels! Thank you again so much!