"A&E and Medical Assessment Unit"

My husband, who has Alzheimers, was admitted on Monday 7 September following a seizure and difficulty in breathing.

He had another seizure soon after arriving, and would probably have died if he hadn't been there.

The doctors and nurses were fantastic.

He was then taken to MAU where he stayed for 2 days.

The staff here were very busy (even more than usual apparently).

They are very good at handling a great many different cases, and it would be too much to expect them to have the time to care for someone like my husband who can't do anything for himself or communicate, so I stayed with him all day on both days to feed him etc.

Although they thought he had probably got a UTI, it was quite difficult to get anyone to set up a drip (he wouldn't wake up and therefore could not drink), even though he already had the tube in his arm and it wouldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes.

There was, however, one nurse who was very calm and efficient and just got on with the job with no fuss.

They helped me to give him his morning medication on the second day - at lunchtime - no-one else had worried about it even though it was supposed to stop him having another seizure.

They said they couldn't give him anything until he opened his eyes.

He can be awake but not open his eyes, but they didn't have time to stop and see this.

I am not blaming them for this, but I think that unless a friend or relative can be there to care for someone, their condition would probably deteriorate.

If you have a GEM award, I would very much like to put this nurse's name forward for it - they made our stay much happier, and probably shorter than it would have been without their help.