The staff are very caring and attentative
I arrived at the a&e department at 5.15 on a friday after almost cutting the end of my finger off on a lawn mower and was seen very soon after by the triarge nurse, who kindly redressed my wound and gave me pain relief. I felt a bit ignored after everyone who was in the waiting room came and went, including a few others that arrived after me. Most, in my opinion appeared to have minor injuries. Eventually around 8.30 i was called in and after removing the 'wrong' dressing applied by the nurse (it had stuck to the wound and had to be soaked off) i was assessed. There was talk of me going to East Grinstead as that is where the specialist was, but in the end consultant decided to email some photos to them direct, then the decision was made to treat it in house. The pain relief etc was all provided and i can not complain about not being looked after, as i felt very little of what they were doing with my finger. Although, when the decision was made to sew me back up, the wound was cleaned and equipment brought around to carry out the necessary work. Then we were moved to a ward as they needed the assessment room and i was left to wait......and wait......i was sitting there with the top of my finger hanging off for 1 1/2hours as the only person who had the skill to reattach my finger had gone home!! Thankfully he returned, my finger was stitched up and the A&E nurse done an excellent job carefully dressing the wound - made more difficult by the swelling and my endless facial expressions more akin to wallace and gromit. The follow up appointments have so gone with no issues, but all that have dressed the wound have struggled. Overall i cant complain about the service, as without it i wouldnt have my finger back, i just feel the intial service was not really up to sratch.