"A&E care"

I was taken to A&E at Whiston in the early hours of Saturday morning by a friend, because of a self-inflicted injury and small overdose.

Firstly, the care I received was good on the whole. My wound was stitched well and I didn't have to wait long to be assessed by a psychiatrist.

The friend who took me to A&E was mistaken by staff as my mum. She stressed that this was not the relationship between us.

The first assessment with the psychiatrist was not clear - having taken too many sleeping tablets and other meds, I was in no fit state to make sense of anything. I was taken to the obs ward to sleep it off.

After 12 hours I was assessed again. I have to say, the psychiatrist who spoke to me the second time was very good and understanding. He was in no way judgemental, dismissive and he clearly cared.

When I was discharged the staff at A&E phoned my friend to let her know - I'm not sure this was appropriate and I had not asked for them to do this. I'm unsure as to why they called her to tell her that?

On the whole, the staff treated me well. The only thing I could have benefitted from was advice on what to do with my stitched up arm. All I was told was the stitches need to come out in 7 days. In the meantime I was not told if I need to change the dressing, keep it dry, see my GP. I was not told of signs of infection in case the wound becomes infected, or whether i would need painkillers. I don't know if it is normal for it to hurt as much as it does etc. So advice on follow up care could have been improved. I also think it's important that staff should establish the relationship between the person presenting to A&E and the person accomanying them. My friend was told quite a bit of information because they presumed she was my mum.