"Brilliant care by the doctor & Short Surgical Stay..."

Anything else?

This letter from me to the doctor, Short Stay Surgical Unit, about sums it up.

Dear Doctor & Co,

More to the nurses & staff than you ‘cause I never met u on the day, although I’m sure u was there ha ha.

I want to say a big thanks to ALL OF YOU INVOLVED.

I had my Knee arthroscopy op with you on Tues 26 March 2013 at approx 1100. I want to say a big thanks to all that was involved, & I do mean from top to bottom.

From the doctor & the nurse I met at the pre-op at the Bulwell Centre, all the way to the last nurse that saw me off at the exit.

I was nervous as it was, dreading the op, going to be cheesed off with the wait, boredom etc.

But from arriving, from the nurses attention to detail, to the initial Doctor’s preps, the nurses checking & keeping me informed, the physios instructions, the Porter, I cannot thank everyone highly enough.

I was put in what was as good as a private room, no mixing it with half of Nottingham & 10 million visitors.

Nurses frequent visits telling me what’s what, what to do & not to do.

One of the Doctors re-assuring me all will be good, correct leg, don’t mess up etc.

Physio coming to tell me what to expect & instructions for afterwards.

Anaesthetist coming to explain all options & procedures.

Nurse coming to take my bag to the bed & she kept my phone secure.

Young lad porter great to chat with on way to operating theatre, making sure my last bit of stuff got back ok to my bed.

Then at theatre, doctors & anaesthetists being normal, explaining what’s what.

I like the procedure nowadays where u ask me 20 million times is that your signature on the papers, re-assuring us that you are doing the correct operation on the correct person on the correct leg-We all worry once asleep, you’re gonna do the wrong thing. Especially as I do a lot of cycling, running, swimming, gym, self-defence etc. & din’t want messing up.

You all definitely calmed my nerves down.

Tea lady bringing me tea at the correct time-Tell her she was 7 mins early, but I can live with that.

We hear of the NHS being crap elsewhere, but on my experience with you lot in that department, I cannot sing your praises highly enough & you can use this letter as much as you like in whatever journals you like.

I honestly felt a bit like a private patient-I was prepared to pay to go private-But glad I got talked out of that.

There was no rushing by you all, so methodical & thorough & double-checking.

I was looked after from start to finish. Even being wheel-chaired to the exit, when I thought I’d be ok on the crutches.

If any other departments are struggling, then you need to get your team in from here, to see how it should be done.

Thanks, thanks, & thanks again.

Any queries, please ring me.

Yours sincerely,

Mick Roberts.