"Kind, caring, professional and understanding..."

Our 32 year old Daughter was rushed into A&E early last Monday morning.

She has Vasovagal syncope which most people (including ambulance personnel and hospital staff think of as a faint). Unfortunately on many occasions her heart can stop beating for twenty or thirty seconds at a time during an episode.

The ambulance men took her into A&E on their ambulance trolley stretcher. She was connected up to an ECG monitor. She started to vomit which caused an episode to occur. She Flat Lined which is the scariest few moments of any parents life.

Within seconds the ambulance men and at least a half a dozen medics were at work. One nurse administered CPR and re-started her heart.

One of the specialists from Critical Care came down and she was taken to Critical Care Ward. The kind, caring and understanding staff were intent on finding the cause and cure for our daughter's problems. Despite being to the doctors in Leeds the previous week and A&E the previous night, the critical care staff at NSEC diagnosed a chest infection, pneumonia, and that she needed both a pericardial effusion and pleural effusion. Within a few days she was well enough to leave Critical care and was transferred to the Cardiac Care unit in Ward 10.

Everyone we have come in contact with working at NSEC have been outstanding. Their kindness, compassion and professionalism has been faultless. Our daughter is getting married in six weeks time, so the early diagnosis and treatment that she received at NSEC was paramount. Everyone including the healthcare assistants, cleaners, nurses, doctors in all wards were exceptional, and a great asset to the Trust.

The only minor down side during our daughter's 11 day stay in hospital, are the small car parks. It is difficult to get to NSEC without driving there and there are simply insufficient parking spaces during visiting time - despite the hospital being in large grounds.