"Treated with efficiency and compassion"

Anything else?

I visited UCH a&e via an ambulance a week ago after a fractious call with NHS 111, who despite hearing that I was collapsed with nausea and alone in the street, offered me a call back from a doctor in an hour. I was incredibly scared and embarrassed, worried they thought I was a drunk 20 something who didn't know her limits. But no one gave me that impression, or anything close. The nurses listened to what I said: and took seriously the fact that I had recently travelled to sub-Saharan Africa, but did not overreact. When my symptoms were at their worse - and my dignity at its lowest point - they made sure I was given as much privacy and comfort as possible. Nothing ever seemed too much. Not even making sure my boyfriend didn't come into the room when I felt too I dignified to see him. As the anti-sickness medication took affect, they swiftly moved from talk of admitting me to working out how to get me home. I was in a taxi within an hour and a half, away from increased risks of mrsa and in much better reach of my own bathroom. My memory is patchy, and so I have no sense of how often someone checked on me. But there was always someone there when I needed them. I have neve been to a&e before, and I hope never again. But in a week of media coverage of the financial pressures on a&e care, I experienced the ery best version of emergency medicine: calm, collected and compassionate in just the right doses.