LETTER: NHS saved my mother’s life

This is a letter of thanks and gratitude to the first responder, a young female paramedic, who attended to my 90-year- old mother. Her prompt attention, skill and efficiency saved my mother’s life. So often the NHS and our hospitals are criticised but I can only praise them for their professionalism under threat of staffing cuts.

The ambulance service is under the threat of cuts also. On this occasion the ambulance and crew which attended my mother had been diverted to another emergency involving a serious condition to a young child.

This resulted in the ambulance arriving later than planned. The first responder paramedic, due to the delay of the ambulance, had arranged for a helicopter to be on standby. The ambulance arrived before this plan was put into action.

I accompanied my mother to East Surrey Hospital on a blue light journey.

The staff at East Surrey were marvellous, I was kept informed and regularly updated as to what was happening.

After a few hours my mother was stabilised and moved to a ward where she is receiving good attention and continues to recover.

Well done NHS we are so fortunate to have a first class service. There is a lot of criticism and put downs of our NHS service.

This is a brilliant service and needs to be defended against staff and financial cuts.

S.M. CHAPMAN (Mrs)

Pondtail Road, Horsham