Firstly, Manor Park is excellent. The staff are efficient, courteous, helpful and friendly as are the practice nurses who, along with the GPs, give first class care and treatment.
To make an appointment to see a GP one simply has to telephone after 8.30am. On all the occasions I have done this in the past few years I have never been given an appointment more than two and a half hours later, more often than not the appointment given is between 60 and 90 minutes from the time of calling.
This is a good example of how they all work together. A few months ago I went to see the nurse, at 8.30, for a regular blood pressure test.
The nurse decided it was a bit too high and, after checking on my weight, diet, exercise routine and general health, asked me to make an appointment to discuss the pressure with the doctor.
I spoke to the receptionist who checked their computer and apologised for the fact that she could not give me an appointment before 11.40.
I was astounded to even be considered for a same-day appointment, let alone one that morning. As I was enthusiastically accepting it Dr Russell Brown, my GP, overheard and said there was no sense in me going home to wait he would see me immediately.
After the consultation I left with a prescription for revised medication and before 9.45 I had collected it from the chemist.
This is a seriously high standard of care. Neither am I alone in experiencing it, many others I talk to in this area tell me they have benefited from it too.
Secondly, earlier this year, after a thorough check and examination by Dr Brown a biopsy proved me to have prostate cancer.
Referrals to the oncology staff at the Eastbourne DGH followed. From my very first contact with them they were positive, informative, reassuring and very, very professional.
I had already heard this about them from a close friend but was quite unprepared for the degree of personal care and encouragement that the team gave to me, especially Oncology Nurse Scammell and the surgeon Dr Rimmington. It greatly lifted my spirits at a time when I was scared out of my wits by the cancer.
After tests to determine the most appropriate treatment for me I was admitted to the DGH on October 6 for laparoscopic surgery to remove my prostate.
For the two and a half days I was there everybody from the cleaner to the consultant, was caring and concerned for my wellbeing.
The ward nurses are absolutely wonderful, how they manage to be so committed to the health and recovery of those in their wards while dealing with such a workload is beyond me. Nothing, but nothing, was too much trouble for them.
One of them, realising I had a problem, went out of her way to find a special dressing for me to make me more comfortable and was inordinately pleased when I later told her how much relief her kindness had given to me.
Whilst on the ward I was attended to by several nurses who had trainee staff with them. I was most impressed with the competent manner in which they were passing on their skills at the same time as administering to their patients' needs.
It was obvious that the trainers were enjoying doing the teaching and that the trainees were enjoying receiving it.
A couple of times the senior nurse asked me if the junior could perform some of the tasks, e.g. change the dressings an take my blood pressure.
Each time the process was very closely supervised and after each one the senior nurse returned a minute or two later and discreetly thanked me for letting her charge do the work, a small courtesy perhaps, but a very welcome one.
Since returning home to convalesce I have had a couple of problems, but they were dealt with by Dr Brown and the oncology nurses with the efficiency and professionalism I have come to appreciate.
I write this letter to you because, in a time when it is considered a fashionable thing to criticise the NHS and its staff, I feel it is important that someone should point out the excellent levels of care and service being provided by the staff at these two establishments.
I must conclude by saying that I have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with either the surgery or the DGH except as an extremely grateful patient.
Malcolm Jeffery
Golden Miller Lane
Polegate