AFTER reading the article about waiting times at the A&E department at Leighton hospital I thought I would like to tell you about my experience of my visit there in April of this year.

My son was taken ill and he rang the 111 service who got him an out of hours appointment with a doctor at Leighton Hospital. His appointment was for 10.45pm on a Sunday night and walking through A&E it was obvious it was very busy.

My son never got to see the doctor as the nurse assisting him took one look at him and sent him straight round to the crowded A&E. The receptionist there was wonderful and said that it was obvious he was in some distress and she informed the triage straight away that he needed to be seen urgently.

Ten minutes later he had been assessed and transferred to the resuscitation department.

After x-rays and scans he went into surgery at just after 1.30am and had an emergency operation for a perforated bowel!

The treatment he received from start to finish was first class and I can only praise the swift attention he received in A&E as it certainly saved his life. The surgeon told us the next day that if he had been delayed another hour he would not have made it.

Words can’t express how grateful I feel to all the hard working, understaffed and underpaid NHS staff at Leighton Hospital.

I know that some people have experienced long waits but I can honestly say that I feel so fortunate that the receptionist saw a very sick person that night and made sure he was seen quickly.

I really wish I knew who she was as I would have liked to have thanked her personally and tell her how grateful I am for what she did that night.

Barbara Melia, Sandbach