"Staff were great, receiving & discharge could be improved"

I had a major gastric bleed and collapsed. My wife phoned for an ambulance. I'm not sure of the timings exactly, but it was probably a couple of hours before it arrived. However the dispatchers had confirmed essential details so I'm sure there were higher priorities as I was no longer bleeding and appeared stable. When we got to QEUH I had to wait in the corridor with my ambulance crew for another hour or so. Again, I didn't mind the wait though I was disappointed that the crew had to wait with me. There were a lot of paramedics hanging round with their patients and it seemed a waste of their time. I realise they can't just dump us, but I feel there has to be a better way of doing this. Once I was allocated a cubicle I was very well looked after. I didn't get a drip quite as soon as I would have wanted, but they were really, really busy and I was stable. The following day I had an endoscopy which confirmed that Ibuprofen had stripped my stomach lining and that I had multiple ulcers. I was kept overnight. There were no beds so a day ward was pressed into service. The following day I persuaded the staff that I didn't need yet another night in hospital more than they needed the bed I was occupying. When I was discharged it took a long time for my medicines and discharge letters to arrive. That was a pain

Throughout the treatment from staff was great. Despite the pressure they were under they were attentive and even humorous. The care was excellent and I'm now  much better, though still recovering. The only bum note was one doctor who presumed that my collapse was due to alcohol! He was a bit sniffy. But given that it was the holiday season, and he'd probably had to treat about 3000 collapses due to alcohol I can forgive this presumption. 

So - main points are

- that the receiving at QEUH could be more efficient, although I have no idea how. However the ambulance staff did say it was slicker at the Royal so perhaps there's a lesson to be learned from them.

 - the discharge process definitely needed speeded up. I was hanging around for about 5 hours after the doctor had agreed I could go, apparently mainly due to delay at the pharmacy (though that's largely conjecture)

 - the staff were great (including the ambulance staff)