"Friendly, efficient service"

We were staying in the area whilst my son had a week-long trial with a sports club. Unfortunately he sustained an injury during training on Wednesday evening and by Thursday morning he was in so much pain we decided to seek medical help. We first contacted a GP's surgery, which directed us to Minor Injuries at Ilkeston Community Hospital. Parking was a real problem. At 9.30 am the car parks were full (I believe there has been a problem with people using it as a park-and-ride for Nottingham). We finally found a space at the far side of the site from MIU. Pleasant greeting from the gentleman on Reception in MIU who took my son's details. The unit was very quiet, with maybe 3 or 4 other patients, consequently we were seen by a nurse in about 10 minutes. She took a long time examining my son very thoroughly and was able to reassure him that he hadn't torn a muscle (which would have kept him out of action for 2 months), just badly strained it. There wasn't much else she could do apart from advise rest, analgesia and ice packs (which we'd been doing), but she did put his arm in a sling so he didn't need to hold himself stiffly to prevent the torn muscle hurting. She also kindly provided us with a document we could use for him to withdraw from an upcoming competition and claim back entry fees. All the staff we encountered were kind, helpful, friendly, thorough and had smiles on their faces - a refreshing change from the MIU at our home address, which provides a good service but the staff are usually grim faced. Ilkeston Hospital staff made an unfortunate event far from home much more bearable. Thank you.