"GP communication and the children’s ward"

I attended my GP practice for the third time with my little boy who had unfortunately not significantly improved despite him being prescribed 3 lots of antibiotics.

The GP was brilliant and listened to my concerns. He contacted paediatrics who kindly agreed to see my little one that day.

We attended FVRH Children’s ward and were immediately put into a bay, two lovely nurses came over and took his observations and listened to our story.

The male nurse (sorry, I don’t remember your name) was so lovely, he made myself and my mother in law a hot drink and advised us of the next steps. When I arrived at the ward my little one was sleeping, so the nurse advised me to let him rest and as soon as he woke I was just to let him know and he would be over to take his weight and some viral swabs.

My little one woke up after around 30 mins and the doctor was on the ward so reviewed him promptly. The Doctor was called Hannah, her communication, manner and soft skills were amazing and helped to put us at ease, this enabled my little boy to interact with her which made the assessment process much easier as he was not distressed. The Dr was very attentive and listened to our story and my concerns, she was very understanding and ordered appropriate tests, taking into account the less invasive options to cause the least amount of stress to my little one.

When we went down the xray, the porters were also brilliant, very upbeat and chatty. Interacting with my little one. The radiographer and student in the X-ray department were also lovely and made the experience of getting an x-ray less scary for my little one.

Once the x-ray confirmed my little one had a chest infection, the Dr updated me on the ward and advised me of the treatment plan which was a further change of antibiotics.

I was given ‘open access’ for 48hours and advised if there was any change to my boy’s condition or if things weren’t improving, then I just had to ring the ward and I could take him up for assessment.

The male nurse then came over to give us the antibiotics for us to be discharged home, he provided us with lots of information and provided my little boy with the ward contact number, he told him this was ‘his ticket home’.

I am extremely grateful for all care provided at each part of our journey. Every member of staff that we came across could not be more helpful. My little boy is now back to his usual happy self, this is all to do with the quick and seamless care than was provided to him.

Thank you all so much.