"Dedicated nursing at North Tyneside General"

One of my closest friends, Allan, was brought into North Tyneside hospital on Boxing Day 2007 after suffering a massive stroke. He was admitted onto E.C.U.

His family and I were told of the fact and travelled from different places in the country to be at his bedside and of course bring comfort to his wife.

At no time were we made to feel in the way, in fact just the opposite – the staff at the hospital are the very best I have ever come across (I unfortunately suffer with multiple health problems myself, so being an in-patient in many hospitals, I feel I can talk with some authority).

Never have any of us been treated with such caring and kindness by all staff – everyone we came into contact with couldn’t have been nicer.

The staff on E.C.U was so dedicated and gentle with my friend and considerate with us, as we were all in shock at the time.

It may sound a minor thing but one of his daughters went to the hospital cafe in search of sandwiches only to return with 4 boxes of packed meals provided by the hospital free of charge. We were truthfully amazed!

Never, anywhere else, had any of us seen this. Even down to the lovely patient packs of toiletries provided by the hospital – nowhere else have I seen such thought and consideration put into such a small, important item of necessity.

Allan was transferred to ward 22, the stroke unit, where he received the same caring and considerate treatment. Nothing was ever too much trouble for the staff.

Three nurses, in particular, stood out amongst all the wonderful staff – staff nurses Gillian and Jeanette in E.C.U and Alison on ward 22. These nurses were very dedicated and did their job extremely well. It is definitely a vocation. In fact, Gillian said when I thanked her, “I see Allan as my dad and nurse him as I would want myself or my family to be nursed.” This is from someone who had only completed her training 11 weeks ago! We were all so impressed.

Allan sadly passed away at 3.15am early Saturday morning. We had been taking it in shifts to sit with him.

One of the nicest touches we found was that someone on E.C.U had telephoned the stroke unit to find out how Allan was.

I am sorry if this sounds sycophantic – I really mean all I say. Thankyou to all concerned in E.C.U and on ward 22 of the stroke unit.

If Gordon Brown ever wants to know how a hospital should be run and how to care for its patients and their families, he only has to visit North Tyneside General.