My daughter flew in ten days ago from Oz for my 70th which we celebrated with friends last weekend. We then decamped to London on Tuesday for a little R&R and to attend the Springsteen concert in Hyde Park on Thursday. This morning we were all going to head out to Heathrow and my daughter and her husband fly off back to Oz and my wife and I to Dublin to see her Mum.
That was all before I slipped getting into the shower and gashed my head ( I guess you start doing things like that at 70). My daughter, who’s an ED registrar and well used to blood and guts prescribed four stitches and tried to no avail to procure a suture kit for a DYI job from a few local pharmacies. So we took a cab to St . Mary’s A&E.
We arrived at 11:30, saw the triage nurse within 20 minutes and a doctor (lovely guy called Freddie) within a couple of hours. Full examination and then a CT scan with results back indicating no problems in less than an hour. Stitches went in and we were done and dusted. Sandwiches and coffee/tea offered throughout our visit.
All in all 11/10 for NHS frontline team. Very competent, empathetic and cheerful people who IMO are under compensated.
It’s one of the best hospitals, after all it’s the favored hospital for birthing royal babies. Might have had a different experience at the Royal Shrewsbury.
But hope this doesn’t interfere with the rest of your stay.
Out of curiosity did anyone ask for proof of your entitlement to use the NHS - or were you all so obviously British that question didn’t come up?
Had a similar experience a few months ago when my mother (who’s 98 next month) slipped and gashed her forehead on a metal doorway threshold - she didn’t want to go to A&E but fortunately has a retired GP living next door who did an initial patch up - I insisted she go to A&E the next morning and they gave her the full works - blood tests, ECG, Cat scan, etc. It was too late for stitches by that point but they bandaged her up and the wound has healed well thankfully.
This was the Royal Surrey in Guildford - they have been excellent in my family’s experience (even if you have to wait around a bit in A&E if you are not totally at death’s door.
Good question. I gave my French address and expected questions but was asked none. Subsequently for other medical reasons the Doctor mentioned that I was on “the System”. So maybe they picked up my NI number from there?
No, only my medical foibles Stella Though, since you mention it, there were three police custody handcuff cases and one assaulted female police officer while we were there. In the middle of the day on a Saturday Heaven knows what a Friday or Saturday night is like.
Mary’s Hospital in London: Both Princess Diana and Kate Middleton had all their babies at the Lindo Wing—Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis were all born in at the hospital in Paddington, London, with Prince William the first royal heir to the British throne not born at home.
We should never have bailed them out to the tune they can continue private medical and they would see what the NHS is all about and how it needs looking after.
When I had my daughter in St Thomas’ 33 years ago, women were brought from the Portland to give birth and when they had given birth taken back to their private clinic. Perhaps it was the less straightforward births that were transferred to Tommies
My sister had a back op privately at the Wellington, partly as wait times were too long given the pain she was in, and partly as she wanted surgeon X. It went a bit awry (not due to surgeon) so she needed specialist nursing, which wasn’t available despite the fancy meals on china plates. So transferred back to the NHS.
Easiest way to calm unruly or noisy A&E queues is for a big burly Viking to walk in followed by a medieval knight in semi maille
I was organising Scotland’s Festival of History a few years ago when two re-en actors had to go to the local A&E, one with concussion the other with suspected collar bone.
The doc in charge of the department said he’d never ever known the normal Saturday waiting room so quiet and well behaved and wanted to know what it would take for them to become frequent visitors
I was waiting to be admitted to hospital in Macon when four burly prison warders came in surrounding a man in handcuffs.
Half an hour later the procession left.
( I guess you start doing things like that at 70). My daughter, who’s an ED registrar and well used to blood and guts prescribed four stitches and tried to no avail to procure a suture kit for a DYI job from a few local pharmacies. So we took a cab to St . Mary’s A&E.
Though, since you mention it, there were three police custody handcuff cases and one assaulted female police officer while we were there. In the middle of the day on a Saturday 
congratulations to both.
