Madam, - My 14-year- old son suffered a hand injury during scouting activities recently and ended up in the A&E unit of Naas General Hospital. After waiting for about two hours he was X-rayed, seen by a doctor and referred to Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin for more specific surgical expertise.
We attended at Crumlin the following morning and had to wait all of 50 minutes to be seen and examined by both a triage nurse and junior doctor. Within two hours my son was prepared for a general anaesthetic and lying in a very modern, high-tech operating theatre, surrounded by half-a -dozen friendly theatre staff, who introduced themselves as they prepared my son for his operation.
We were then joined by a most pleasant and reassuring lady surgeon who explained what they were about to do.
One hour later the patient was sitting up in the recovery ward and we were on our way home to Naas by midday. During the whole experience in both Naas and Our Lady's Hospital, I failed to find the "third world" health care system so beloved of many writers to your paper.
Our family are just ordinary "Joe Soaps" with no power or influence in the normal scheme of things, but in both hospitals we were treated efficiently and in a most pleasant manner by a whole range of medical staff from the receptionist to the surgeon.
Our sincere thanks to everyone involved (not forgetting the much maligned Minister, Mary Harney). - Yours, etc,
NICK COY, Naas, Co Kildare.