"Fantastic - one very appreciative A&E patient."

What I liked

My visit started off to A&E (which strangely I can't see as an option in the list of services/departments) with a blockage in my throat. The overall impression I had was very positive - staff were all professional and good natured. In all, I was at the hospital for about 10 hours, as various options and explorations were gradually carried out resulting in a successful endscopy in the evening which broke up the blockage. As things evolved, all staff were excellent at popping by and keeping me informed of the plans. The care of the endscopy staff was second to none. My stay in MAU was very brief, but my perception there was also very postive - staff had a rapport with patients who ahd been there a while and quickly noticed when I was retching etc and came to check, though at this stage I was simply 'looking forward' to the forthcoming endscopy. As others have said, the NHS usually gets a lot of knocks, but when you really need it I can't think of a better alternative. I actually struggle to imagine such good (and good- natured) care happening in any other country.

What could be improved

Small point - one or two of the doctors weren't wearing visible ID which meant you didn't always know who was dealing with you - they all introduced themselves, but some surnames are easier to catch than others.

There were also examples of small amounts of confusion with information being shared between different teams (I think, for example the endoscopy team still thought I was in A&E when in fact I had already been moved to MAU), but being a realist I appreciate it is a busy environment with staff having to balance competing demands and so this sort of thing is very hard to 100% eliminate.

Anything else?

I''ve writen seperately to the hospital thanking the staff who dealt with me.

After not being able to swallow for 26 hours, the ability to drink a glass of water was simply fanatastic.