"Full of admiration for all the staff who attend me"

I have recently been in hospital as an in patient and was discharged on a Tuesday mid Feb 2025. When I left hospital I felt quite upbeat, I had been diagnosed with cancer about a year ago and now I had been told the cancer wasn’t present and subject to a check in about three months I could be clear. 

For 3 days after I was fine but during the 3rd afternoon I began to feel unwell, I was cold despite being in a warm room and started trembling and my wife suggested I go to bed. I quickly fell asleep but woke up in the early hours of the morning absolutely wet through and with a high temperature, My wife rang 111 and they listened to my story and said a doctor would call at the house in about two hours. When the doctor attended he found I had an infection, my blood pressure was a little low and the left side of my body was a little weak compared to the right. He also noticed that I had a weakness in the left side of my face. He decided I would benefit from a CT scan and organised an ambulance before leaving.

The ambulance arrived with a crew of three, they spent quite a lot of time going through my recent medical history and present condition and symptoms. They did various checks, temperature, pulse, blood pressure etc. Unfortunately they couldn’t contact the doctor who had attended so made a decision to take me into A&E at Treliske and book a CT scan.

We arrived at Treliske hospital without issue and I was quickly transferred to a bed and almost immediately inducted into the hospital. I was initially attended to by two nurses who were pleasant and businesslike they did the basics things like name tags etc and I was also introduced to a male nurse (unfortunately I cannot remember his name) who explained I would be transferred to a bay he said he would stay with me through the process and that I would go on and have a CT scan. When I got to the bay a nurse checked my tags and helped me get ready for the scan. I was introduced to the consultant who was to deal with me and come up with a plan. I was taken for the scan and waited just a few minutes before having the scan. I was taken back to the bay after the scan and the consultant came with the plan. It included providing antibiotics intravenously and some to take home. Some aspirin and extra aspirin to take home, she also made an appointment's for me to see the Stroke team over the coming days. After the antibiotic drip finished I was discharged, my wife collected the medication we were to take home and my son collected us.

This is a potted history but I would like to stress that at no time were we left unattended for more than a few minutes. We were not left in the ambulance waiting, we were not left in A&E reception waiting.

We were not parked on a trolly in a corridor waiting, the time spent in the bay was spent having the antibiotics, getting ready for the CT scan, meeting the consultant and so on. We did not have to wait for the CT scan, I was taken to the scan waiting area and went straight in. After I was taken straight back to the bay. The whole process was seamless the consultant had the plan sorted the medication was collected and no time or resources were wasted. I cannot criticise any member of the nursing team, the doctors and consultant or the Ambulance crew who were all helpful, kind and productive. A report of the CT scan came back to the doctor quickly so she could make an informed decision about a course of action going forward. 

I am full of admiration for all the staff who attend me and would like to thank them for the work they are doing every day for the general public.