"Excluding the nurses, who were exceptional,..."

What I liked

My fiance was rushed into Accident and Emergency following a fall down the stairs; he had broken his neck in 3 places. Being that it was a very serious injury, he was seen quickly and immobilised.

What could be improved

We were consistently told that he would require surgery to remove a bone fragment that was causing pressure on a nerve that affected the left side of his body. On several occasions, we were told that we were waiting for an ambulance to take him to the RVI to see specialists. After approximately 6 hours of being told this (and my fiance being terrified) we were told to go home and wait for a letter. I found this to be unacceptable to begin with but after a week of waiting for a letter that didn't arrive, we phoned the RVI. They told us they had received no correspondence from Rake Lane and had no record of him. When we contacted Rake Lane, we were told they had faxed the specialist and to wait. Another week went by and I phoned again, just to be told the same thing. I demanded it be sorted immediately as my fiance was (and still is) in a lot of pain (He still has on the emergency neck brace he was given in a&e!) . I had to get the fax number myself from the specialist's P.A. Then we were again told "wait for a letter". Absolutely disgusting, especially considering the severity of the injury. Given the option, I would not return to this hospital.