"Outstanding treatment"

I had originally been taken to Stoke Mandeville hospital by ambulance. My face and right ear was extremely swollen, I had a dry mouth, difficulty opening my mouth, I had experienced chest pains and my sats was in the eighties. Stoke Mandeville decided I needed specialist treatment at the John Radcliffe and arranged an overnight ambulance transfer.

I arrived after 4 am on Thursday 13 August and was promptly assessed in the emergency department. Later in the day I moved into the special surgery in patient ward with the prospect of surgery on the parotid gland in my right cheek. Following intravenous antibiotic treatment, surgery was deemed unnecessary and cellulitis was thought to be the root cause.

The treatment I received cannot be faulted. All of the staff (doctors, nurses and support staff) were extremely professional and attentive to my needs. They explained what they were doing and why, and involved me in their discussions as appropriate. The facilities were clean and comfortable. If I requested anything, the nursing staff provided it promptly and courteously. I cannot find anything to criticise other than the inevitable background noise from monitoring alarms.

I was finally discharged on the Saturday afternoon with a course of intibiotics.

This has been my first stay in a hospital. Having visited friends and relatives in other hospitals in Herts and Essex, I was very apprehensive but I found no trace of the shoddy facilities and service I had seen elsewhere. The staff and management of the John Radcliffe hospital should feel very proud of their hospital and the service it provides.