I am getting a lot of letters and e-mails on local residents’ perceptions of local NHS services following my invitation to people to write about their experiences. They show a fascinating range of opinion, some rating our local health services as very good, some as not so good, all of course coming from the same tight geography of the St Albans constituency.
Here are two e-mails received within an hour of each other:
As a resident I find the situation with regard to the hospital both confusing and worrying. I like to think I keep myself up to date with local events but I can honestly say I don’t really know what services the St Albans hospital can now provide, due to this I would never proactively go there as a first port of call.
To give you a live example in August I injured my ankle playing football, the following morning having not really slept I got my fiancee to take me to A & E, I went to the hospital I have always used which is Hemel. Having arrived at Hemel we noticed the sign that said ‘No A & E’, I dont know when this happened but felt disappointed that I wasn’t aware of this. I then came back and went to Welwyn Garden Citys QE2. Having diagnosed my problem (torn tendons) I was told to keep the weight off my ankle but they were not able to provide me with crutches – how is someone supposed to not put weight on their foot without using crutches??
Although I appreciate this is a minor injury and a small story, to me it encapsulates the issues we face locally, they are…
a) Having spoken to other locals I know I am not the only one who wasn’t aware about Hemel losing its A & E facilities. Why are locals not given this information?
b) A fear of using St Albans hospital as we don’t know what services it provides. It seems every time we hear about the hospital it is losing yet another facility.
c) When finally getting seen, receiving in our eyes inadequate service.
For what its worth my opinion is that I find the lack of A & E facilities in so many hospitals absolutely amazing, to my mind a Hospital has two functions 1) to help the long term ill with surgery/medicine/ other treatments 2) To enable those who suffer injuries to receive quick and thorough treatment. However, seems my view is now outdated because finding a hospital that provides both of these, especially in this area, is very difficult.
And then a total counterpoint:
I personally have had no problems at all accessing local health services. I think the service provided by my GP surgery is very good and I am happy with the out of hours service. If I phone them I get to speak to a doctor much quicker than if I call NHS direct and can actually get a face-to-face appt with a doctor if necessary. Sometimes when I have needed to access the out of hours service I have seen a GP from my own practice anyway.
I don’t personally find it a great hardship to have to travel to Welwyn or Stevenage to go to hospital – I haven’t had to go to Watford yet but none of these places are so very far away or take very long to get to.
I have been able to find a dentist in St Albans who does NHS treatment and have been impressed by how quickly I was seen when referred for physiotherapy and when my daughter had to be seen by an audiologist and speech therapist – MUCH quicker than friends living in other parts of the country.
We are well served in St Albans with health care in my opinion.
Two local residents living in reasonably close proximity, two entirely different stories. And I am daily receiving more comments, both e-mail and hard copy. From them we are able to build a powerful picture of our local NHS. I am most grateful to so many people for taking the trouble to write in.
No Comments so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.