Describe a hospital you have stayed at or have seen.

The only time I have ever needed to go and stay (but not overnight) at a hospital was when I was young, about 10 or 11. I was playing outside in the street where I lived and another child laid down on the grass and told me to run over his legs. Being an honest and trusting child and thinking it was quite fun, I took a good run up and jumped over his legs, but the other child deliberately tripped me up by lifting his legs and catching mine. As a result of this I fell badly to the floor and landed awkwardly on my shoulder. It immediately started hurting, I went into shock and started crying, the other child ran off, and I ran home.

My arm felt cold and painful. My mother and father had a look at my arm and saw my painful reaction when I tried to lift it, and decided we should go to the Accident and Emergency at the nearest hospital, so we went. I remember waiting a long time at the hospital to see a doctor as it was busy that night. One of the questions he asked me was to use my hand to pretend I was brushing my hair, instead of using the bad arm I just used my good arm, and the doctor, my mother and I laughed cause I realised he didn’t mean that arm. The doctor gave me an xray and it turned out that I had fractured my left arm.

To this day I’m sure that my left arm isn’t as good as my right. My only other memories about the experience was having to wear a sling and not sleeping well as a result of being uncomfortable. I even vaguely remember my parents talking to the other child’s parents but that’s not very clear for me. I think the pain medication they gave me was a dissolvable kind that you put into water, it fizzes away until the tablet’s gone and you’re left with a foul tasting milky coloured fluid that you should drink. I almost preferred not having it and putting up with the pain.

Although my memory of that might have been from the multiple times I had tonsillitis and couldn’t swallow easily, or from the only other occasion I’ve been properly ill when I fell on Astroturf at school, I failed to clean my wounds properly and my elbow and knees got infected, and the liquid wasn’t pain killers but antibiotics. That was particularly painful and uncomfortable because my tonsils also faired up as a result of the infection, so it was difficult to eat.

I haven’t been to hospital that many times but I guess it’s a typical British Hospital. Busy, overworked, long waiting times and possibly not as clean as it should be but that is a purely subjective unsubstantiated fuzzy impression. And as with most NHS hospitals, and as far as I can remember, it was free.

The only other times I’ve been to hospital have been to see relatives in recovery, or as part of family trips to take relatives for checkups/appointments. My impression has been big car parks and a long wait, but standards of care are fine. As far as the hospital itself, they’re quite big and modern, with large car parks.

I know this doesn’t really answer the question, but as I’ve said to my students, the topics that I give students are quite open.