"All the staff were brilliant"

Had to call 999 at the end of December due to extremely irregular and rapid heart rate coupled with tingling along left arm which had been going on for some time. Call handler extremely reassuring as well as subsequent call back from paramedic, Billy, who advised trip to A&E.  A friend drove me down to prevent tying up an ambulance, and my first trip to A&E in many years.

On arrival at around 10:00 pm, advised of especially long wait, but was triaged very quickly and ECG carried out along with bloods taken. My issue had calmed down dramatically since home so the check by professionals with nothing of note seen was a joy to hear. However the nurse, Natalie, informed that the bloods would identify if there had been a heart event and that I still required to be seen. Extremely pleasant woman and said (tongue in cheek) that the results should be back by the time I was seen. She was a pleasure to talk to, very cheery and chatty despite the challenges the department faced that evening.

Sat in the waiting room for another 10 hours awaiting to be seen with others who’d arrived before me slowly feeding through for examination, but a mainly well mannered public and no disturbances seen. The staff on duty were excellent at dealing with any impatient ‘customers’ and gave a warts and all appraisal of the current situation and wait times in order to give no false hope whenever anyone questioned the wait. All staff were brilliant and responsive to needs around them, and also quick to enforce the masks policy to ensure safety of all.

The waiting room was a source of calm and well insulated from the obviously busy scenes behind the ward doors. Eventually taken at around 8:00 am for a check whereby the doctor (I was too tired by this time to remember his name) gave further reassurance, including an examination of a part of my back which may have caused the tingling left arm, and sent me on my way home.

I was extremely conscious of having to use A&E at this time of year given the well reported issues and busyness, but the early reassurance on arrival gave me the confidence that my place in the queue was rightly of a lower priority. Great service from all staff to all waiting in the face of mounting difficulties.

Only thing I wasn’t too sure about was, as I was alone (through choice) due to the expected long wait, had my condition suddenly worsened in the waiting room would the staff be able to identify me and my condition to quickly respond? There may already be a system in place but it wasn’t obvious.