LETTER: Co-ordinated and excellent care at King's Mill

She was admitted via the emergency department on the Monday and quickly admitted to the hyperacute stroke unit. I was impressed with the speed and quality of her care.

There were so many health professionals involved in looking after her. It was marvellous how they all came to her aid. 
The radiology department should be commended for the rapid provision of CT scanning on the day of admission, with a very quick report provided. And the following day an MRI was undertaken and again I was delighted that the report was completed that afternoon; I am afraid that I did not meet any of the radiographers or radiologists involved but wanted to pass on my thanks for their hard work. The provision of such a high quality, rapid imaging service can be so critical in suspected stroke.

The stroke consultant, Dr Rajapakse, and her team were very attentive. A consultant neurologist (Dr Szabo) came twice to see her and gave very reassuring news that she had improved significantly from the Tuesday to Wednesday. A second stroke consultant also came to see mum, he was charming, thorough in his assessments and attentive to mum’s concerns. The nursing staff (I think Claire was one of the senior nurses involved) were excellent and a physiotherapy assessment was quickly undertaken. Occupational therapy came to the bedside and made a methodical assessment. The eye clinic, especially Nina the orthoptist, were most excellent and thorough in their assessment and provision of corrective prisms that allowed mum to stop seeing double. The pharmacist on duty even came to mum’s bedside immediately prior to her discharge, to offer direct reassurance about the medication that she was starting on.

Discharge home was completed following continued improvement on the Wednesday evening and a follow-up visit made that week to see mum in her house.

All in all I just wanted to say how mum’s care was excellent, and in spite of the large number of healthcare professionals tending to her, the impression I got was that her care was well co-ordinated, highly appropriate and very timely.

Well done King’s Mill Hospital.

Michael Fell

By email