"Hard working A&E staff"

I attended A&E late in mid-February in the Royal. It as packed as usual. I’ve been in A&E several times I. Recent years accompanying an elderly parent but this was a first as a patient myself.

I didn’t know what the issue was but I had an inflamed infected gallbladder, which is extremely painful. I was barely able to sit with pain and exhaustion: I waited patiently for triage where my bloods showed High infection and as soon as space became available I was admitted via A&E, given fluids, pain relief, a surgeon came and examined me, a scan was arranged and I was as provided with a trolley until space became available on a ward.

I was admitted as an emergency to ward 6B of the royal as I’d a High infection in my gallbladder and was experiencing extreme pain. The ward is very busy, I’m sure like all wards however the surgeon prioritised me given how ill I was resulting in emergency surgery. As it turned out the surgery was lifesaving as the gallbladder had perforated and was necrotic. I am very grateful to all the staff on ward 6B, and 6a which I was placed in post-surgery, for the care I received.

I cannot commend all the A&E staff highly enough, they are working under extremely difficult circumstances ace with not enough staff, not enough space, not enough beds etc.

The staff worn under challenging circumstances: not enough beds, aggression from patients (which I heard all too often) and lack of resources.

I witnessed several members of the public, both patients and their family members, being abusive to the staff and giving them unnecessary grief - making their already difficult job even more challenging. Those patients who were gravely ill, like myself, were being quiet and only being disturbed (and annoyed on the staffs behalf) by the behaviour of quite a number of people.

It’s very humbling to witness, as a sick patient, how hard the A&E staff work. I wish more could be done to make their jobs easier - perhaps haps if those in power witnessed firsthand going through A&E when vulnerable and very ill then perhaps change would be made to help those staff in their roles. All staff from porters to HCAs to nurses to doctors were doing their utmost to help.

A huge thank you to everyone in the royal A&E and ward 6B, 6A for all that they done for me