"Good A&E department and associated supporting..."

What I liked

My first visit to Hitchingbrooke after moving to the area was under less than ideal circumstances (mainly because it was A&E I was visiting) on 28th October.

Reception/triage was carried out well and no assumptions were made given the nature of my injuries.

X-ray department were friendly, helpful and understanding.

On admission to the actual A&E department the stand out personality was one of the doctors, always introducing himself to patients as just his first name so never got his surname. Clearly a relatively quiet morning was turning into a busy afternoon, though the team in A&E Minors seemed to be coping well under the marshalling of the doctors.

Nurses on the department performed well in their supporting roles and were very patient and helpful given I didn't want my clothes cut away from me. Minor problem getting on IV in and slight bruising from the second.

Listening to the doctor mentoring an A level work experience student, being very forthright about medicine as a vocation, being clear it was a vocation not just a job while encouraging him, demonstrating that secondary and tertiary consequences have to be considered and generally teaching him about medicine was brilliant to hear.

Anything else?

I don't believe the following is for the above box as the orthopeadics consultants/doctors on duty were just doing their job. However given the nature of my injury, how it occured and the likelihood of repeat occurence I don' feel "we'll give it two weeks to see if it starts to heal itself".

However I do understand they have to balance risk and consequences of surgery against age of patient, the likelihood the injury will fix itself (potentially better than surgery/pinning could manage).