‘We really need to keep fighting to save all of our local hospital services’...Patient's praise for Navan Hospital

A WOMAN who spent the night in Navan Hospital last week after suffering “excruciating” stomach pains has praised “amazing” staff for their kindness during her ordeal and is calling for the restoration of A&E services.

Feeling unwell with stomach pains, Jenny Dowling's husband brought her to Navan Hospital on Monday 31st March where she says she was seen almost immediately and received “the best care imaginable.”

After spending the night on a trolley and following tests and pain control Jenny was discharged with nothing but good things to say about her experience and wants to highlight the importance of the vital local service.

“I know it was a long night but I couldn't fault the staff in any way, they never stopped all night between looking after me and all of the other patients,” said Jenny.

“They did absolutely everything they could for everyone, they were amazing,” she added.

“We really need to keep fighting to save all of the services in the hospital.”

Jenny explains how she came to be in A&E.

“I had stomach pains that I would have previously put down to gallstones but I had my gall bladder removed last year so I knew it wasn't that.

“The pain was excruciating so my husband brought me up to A&E and within about 15 minutes they took me for a heart trace and a half an hour after that I was brought in and put in a chair inside the A&E and they gave me two pain killer injections and I was put on a drip.

“When I told them the pain was getting worse again, they put me on a trolley and gave me morphine to help with the pain.”

The Navan woman says the staff “couldn't do enough” for her.

“They kept coming over to make sure I was alright and any sign of the pain coming back they were straight over,” she explains.

“Throughout the night I had be brought down for a chest and abdominal x ray and around 5am I had a CT scan and the porters were so kind and one stage came over and put a blanket over me to make sure I was warm,” added Jenny.

“I was released the next day and it turns out that my liver is producing too much bile because I have no gall bladder there to get rid of it. It's just something I'm going to have to manage at home.

“The doctor came around the next morning and explained everything in detail and said if you get the pain again do not hesitate come back to us.

“I got my gall bladder removed this time and last year and the year previous to that I had been in and out some many times and each time I had a really good experience, I could say nothing negative about the staff, even when they are under pressure, the care is still second to none.

“With all that's been in the news recently about the health system, I just felt I needed that I needed to share my positive experience. We really need to save the A&E in Navan Hospital and have the service restored.

“The ambulance crew at 10pm were telling staff that the A&E in Drogheda Hospital was overwhelmed with people, god knows how long I would have been waiting to be seen if I had to go there.”

“Being in hospital in Navan, My husband could go home on Monday night and go to bed because he was up for work the next morning If I had to go to Drogheda, he would have had to stay with me for a few hours.

“It means so much having access to an A&E locally.”