"My son was admitted to the AE ..."

What I liked

My son was admitted to the AE dept for severe symtoms of alcohol withdrawal. The care, compassion and advice he received from paramedics and staff in that dept. was exemplary.

The doctor who treated my son was excellent.

Unfortunately, the service received from the MAU dept and psychiactric services was very poor and my son left the hospital without receiving the care recommended by AE staff.

What could be improved

No service is perfect but our experience in AE was about as good as it gets.

Better communication between departments and a willingness to act for the long term good of the patient would be a major improvement. It is not acceptable to give the best care available when a patient is admitted only to discharge the patient some hours later without following up the recommendations of colleagues. If the reason for people like my son not being admitted is a lack of money or resources then this should be addressed as, in the long run, cases such as his cost more if the root causes of the problem are not properly explored and dealt with.