"A visit to A&E"

On a Friday evening in March I received a phone call from my GP who had just received blood test results that suggested I may have a possible DVT. I was 35 miles from home visiting my son in Sutton Coldfield so at about 7. 00 pm I attended the A&E. I was dealt with extremely efficiently with a very pleasant lady Doctor who's name I never recorded, given an injection in my stomach to thin the blood and asked to come back at 10. 00 the next day (Saturday) and report to Ward 21 for an ultrascan. I was on my way home at about 8. 00 pm which I thought was excellent service.

I returned the next day to be told that ultrascans for people entering through A&E were not carried out on a Saturday. So I was given another injection and told to return on Sunday between 9 and 10 am. I point this out not as a criticism but perhaps just to avoid other people having a wasted journey. Again the staff who dealt with me on the Saturday were exceptionally friendly and professional and apologised for the misinformation.

I drove down again on Sunday and was very quickly taken for the ultrascan. The young nurse who prepared me was called Corrie and was really friendly and helpful, even making sure I could find my way back to the right Ward afterwards. She is an excellent Ambassador for Good Hope.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the radiologist, who I will not name here, who really needs to work on their people skills! I have no doubt they are competent at their job but they were brusque almost to the point of being rude and couldn't be bothered to answer a simple question I put to clear my mind. I don't suppose they care one jot about how they are perceived but just thought I would mention it.

The good news was that I didn't have a DVT and when I returned to the ward I met ANP Rebecca Lisserman who completely redeemed the Good Hope hospital's reputation in my eyes. She was so patient, friendly and knowledgeable and put my mind completely at ease on the DVT and advised me of the points I needed to raise with my GP so that he could better appreciate the difficulties that were being caused by my damaged knee, which it turned out had resulted in the swollen leg. She put all this in a letter to him which I gave him the next day and treatment on my knee is now a work in progress. At no time did she try to tell my GP what course I should follow but she gave me enough information to ask the right questions. I am very grateful to her.