Positive story on health services

I WOULD like to share with you a positive story about our local health services.

Recently, whilst in the middle of her Leaving Cert exams, my 18-year-old daughter complained of pains in her stomach.

After a couple of days without improvement, we attended our GP. She examined my daughter and felt it might be appendicitis. She gave us a letter to attend A&E if her condition worsened and a prescription for pain relief medication. She also contacted us by phone later that evening, and again the following day, to enquire about her.

My daughter continued with her exams over the next few days, but on Friday night the pain increased and we knew that we needed to go to the hospital.

We arrived at the A&E department of Mallow General Hospital at midnight on Friday. We were seen promptly and my daughter was brought into a cubicle in the A&E department.

She was examined by a doctor, had bloods taken, had x-ray of her abdomen, was given pain relief, put up on IV fluids, and transferred to a bed on the ward upstairs, all by 1.30am.

She was seen by the surgeon at 10am on Saturday, brought to theatre at 2pm, had her appendix removed and returned to the ward before 5pm.

The surgeon spoke to us while she was in the recovery room, saw her on the ward on Sunday morning, again on Monday morning, and discharged her on Monday afternoon.

She sat her final exam on Thursday and is continuing to recover well.

I would like to point out that from the moment we entered Mallow General Hospital we were treated with the utmost kindness, professionalism, and exceptionally high standards of care. I hope that our story in some way highlights the value of our local A&E department, and our local hospital.

Without it, my daughter would have been just another name at the end of a very long queue in an already bulging and overcrowded CUH.

Linda McCarthy

Mallow