"Pneumonia"

My son aged 22 was sent into the RUH Surgical assessment ward on 15 December as an emergency referral. He was in terrible pain, running a very high temperature and a very sick young man indeed. He was immediately placed in an assessment bed and after some initial obs was quickly given pain relief. Within a very short time he was seen by 2 doctors, given a chest x-ray on the assessment bed to save moving him until the pain relief had some effect. He had full bloods taken and these were analysed very quickly. He was then given a CT scan and taken swiftly to the ward. He received broad spectrum antibiotics intravenously while investigations were made as to the exact cause of the pneumonia. I cannot praise the team on ward 47 highly enough. His pain was terrible and they nearly put him into intensive care. The intensive care team were asked to provide a program of pain relief for him. Everything was carefully explained each and every time. The team were wonderful when he was in such terrible pain, doing everything they could to assist him with such care and kindness, even finding a moment to comfort me. My son was finally moved to ward 30 once they were sure there were no abdominal complications where he also received very good care, although I did feel there was a shortage of staff making the provision of quick pain relief difficult at times. All of the doctors were absolutely dedicated to relieving my son's pain, explaining the causes of it and doing all they could to get him well as fast as possible. I still don't think my son fully understands how very ill he was, at 22 he thinks he is invincible. However he is extremely grateful and slowly on the mend.