Published: 28/02/2002, Volume II2, No. 5794 Page 22
Chris Stevens' experience of French emergency healthcare obviously impressed him ('The English patient', 24 January).
It led me to reconsider the emergency care that I received in the NHS last year. After a busy day, I went home only to return to my hospital with an injured hand a few hours later.
I was seen by the triage nurse, then a nurse practitioner, was x-rayed and clerked in by the trauma senior house officer on call, all in under one hour. This was not special treatment as the accident and emergency waiting room was empty at 10pm, and all patients were being seen equally quickly. I was then allowed a night's sleep in my own bed before surgery the next morning.
Unlike in France, on discharge I was not given any unnecessary anti-coagulation, or required to have unnecessary blood tests. I attended physiotherapy for the next 12 weeks, each visit at a time convenient to me and never having to wait more than 10 minutes.
The few people I met in the physio waiting room were all complimentary about the service. I certainly did not have to find a telephone directory to arrange my own physio.
Like Mr Stevens, I would agree that the staff could not have been nicer. Unlike him, I had no concerns that the clinical practice was 'worrying' - and this was in a no-star trust.
No-one would deny that waits are too long in A&E and that changes are needed. We can all find stories of when things went wrong.
But let's remember that most patients, like me, are very grateful for the excellent service we receive.
Matthew Cooke Senior lecturer in emergency care Warwick University A&E adviser WEST Department of Health
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