"Impressed with the minor injuries unit at Southmead Hospital "

Last night my son stumbled into the road and was hit in the head by a passing lorry. As a nurse it was clear to me that he needed stitches so I took him along to the Minor Injuries Unit at Southmead Hospital.

The staff were kind and polite and it was clear that we would have to wait an hour. Whilst we were there another family rushed in with a very poorly young child who clearly had a much more serious injury ... it was wonderful the way the staff did not panic or turn them away but called for an ambulance to take the child and mother to the local A&E. The family were very distressed and were in and out of the department but staff remained cool and calm.

In the end my son and I had a longer wait ... but we really did not mind. When we were seen my son was checked over thoroughly by the nurse practitioner and a very smiley and friendly second year student nurse. We were then whisked into another room for stitches where the nurse was very compassionate whilst she injected anaesthetic and stitched my sons head and generally patched him up.

My only slight irritation was that it really is not clear on the web site the opening times of the minor injury unit. When I was looking at it on my mobile phone it was very difficult to find and then I read that it was open 24 hours ... I can only assume that this is actually A&E at Frenchay that I saw... as going back to the site this morning I cant even find the Minor Injuries Unit.

As the Unit shut at 8pm had my son had his accident an hour later we would have had to drive from one side of town to the other. It needs to be very clear and stand out on the website opening times of the unit please.

However I would like to say a big thank you to the nurses at the Minor Injuries Unit ... my son now has four very neat stitches across his head and we feel that he was cared for competently and compassionately ... THANK YOU