"RECENT EXPERIENCE OF NHS"

I would like to thank everybody including Paramedics(Ambulance crew) for my HUGE appreciation/gratification of our NHS Services.

After falling out of the loft approx 2.6m and landing on a concrete floor on my bottom, my daughter decided I needed an ambulance.

She called for an ambulance and was told we could have to wait over 1 hour.

We only waited 20 mins for our ambulance to arrive which was fantastic considering the area covered by the East Midlands Ambulance Service. The female and male crew were absolutely amazing.

They were so calming and thorough and after realising very quickly that I was in a lot of pain gave me gas and air.

After a few inhales, I was very relaxed and the crew were then able to carryout an extremely thorough examination whilst lying in the hall way, to confirm that she didn't think that I had broken either my back, pelvis or hips but was concerned about the height of the fall and my pain to my lower spine, that they ,although she was airing on the side of caution, should admit me to hospital for an x-ray and maybe a CT scan.

My journey in the ambulance which was extremely clean and well-stocked was very pleasant and the female medic sitting and monitoring me very closely and explaining what she was doing throughout the journey.

On arrival to LRI Adult A&E I was extremely impressed with the handover from ambulance crew to the Dr/Nurse in the dept which was very quick and extremely efficient. The A&E nurse who tookover from the Ambulance crew was also amazing, explaining what she was doing and why and what was going to happen, making sure my bed was at the right angle and making more checks (whilst my neck brace was still in place).

The A&E Dr then appeared very quickly afterwards and ordered me X-Ray and more pain relieve.

The X-ray showed a L1 fracture to my spine but as I was still in a lot of pain with my right side, he decided to be very sure there was no other underlying problem to arrange for a CT scan,

The whole process only took 2 hours.

The Dr made the decision that I should stay in the Emergency Diagnostic ward overnight and he would then liaise with the Orthopaedic Consultants the next morning (as it was 2.30 in the morning at this point) and my daughter had gone home.

The A&E Dr then arranged for me to have Intravenous Morphine and I was then taken to the Ward.

Again all the Nurses on the ED ward could not do enough for me offering me sandwiches and a hot drink at 3.00 in the morning, making sure I was comfortable and giving me the emergency button should I need to call them.

My Obs were all carried out on a regular basis.

I was woken with my breakfast menu.

All the staff were extremely attentive and and very caring and explained everything that was going on.

I was later discharged and given painkillers and a referral letter to the Fracture clinic.

I cannot THANK ALL STAFF AT THE LRI AND THE EDU for all your caring and support throughout my admission and stay and I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL