"A great hospital experience"

This is a copy of the letter I sent to the hospital's Chief Executive, penned soon after I returned home:

I imagine that your postbag from patients and their close families contains more complaints than praise and so, with this letter, I shall attempt to redress this imbalance.

On Tuesday afternoon, my GP, Dr Draper of Oxshott Medial Practice, diagnosed an incisional hernia as the cause of a painful abdominal lump that had occurred very suddenly. He set in motion a consultation with an appropriate specialist but advised that, should the pain and discomfort get worse, I should attend A&E.

During Tuesday night, it did get worse and, with the prospect of this continuing for maybe a week or two, possibly a lot longer while awaiting an appointment, I decided that I should deal with it straightaway. Thus I presented myself at your A&E department at about 10:30 on Wednesday morning. I can only say that what transpired over the next two days was nothing short of superb.

I’ve lost count of the number of people I saw as we worked our way towards an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment. But all them, without exception, demonstrated not only professionalism but also care, compassion, reassurance and a determination to get me better. I was always in the loop and understood what they were trying to do. It’s only when you personally experience something like this that you fully comprehend the organisational complexity of a big hospital, where diverse specialist teams need to seamlessly integrate so that the patient’s journey is smooth. That certainly happened to me.

At every stage, people were expecting me, they knew my name, my condition, what they had to do and what had to happen next, all in a timely fashion. It didn’t matter who they were, it all worked. A&E admin, the triage team, the nurses, the blood tests, the doctors, the surgical team, the imaging people, the theatre porters, the anaesthetics team, the recovery team, the day centre team. Every single one of them caring for me with compassion. Fantastic!!

So, what can I say except for a very big thank you to you, your well run hospital and to every single person who helped me. Well done to everyone!