"Out of the blue last Saturday morning,..."

What I liked

Out of the blue last Saturday morning, 14th August, I lost consciousness and collapsed. My wife called the Emergency Services.

After just a few moments I was in an ambulance, on a cardiac monitor, and on my way to South Wing, where I was admitted to the Acute Assessment Unit.

During Saturday night I was constantly attended by nurses and doctors from AAU.

On Sunday morning I was transferred to the Chest Care Unit. Whilst on a cardiac monitor there, my heart stopped for beating for 15 seconds, and a team was summoned to insert a temporary pacing wire. The entire team was fantastic, and the care when I was returned to the CCU was quite outstanding.

On Monday, a permanent Pacemaker was inserted by another team, and again, every member of this team was reassuring and caring.

At 8am on Tuesday morning the surgeon checked my condition. At 10am I had a chest X-ray. At 5pm the Pacemaker itself was checked. As all the checks showed everything was OK, I was able to be discharged, and I was home again by 7pm.

I do not believe that a better, or more caring, service would have been available anywhere in the world, or at any price. Yet when I thanked the individuals, the response to a man (or woman) was the same- “I was just doing my job”.

What could be improved

Nothing, everyone was fantastic