The Holiday continues

Monday 17th June

The morning was cool and overcast.Today we said our fond farewells to Mal and Ivor as we are heading up to Shrewsbury to stay with Jane and Glynn for our last few days before heading home.
On our way to Shrewsbury we pass very close to Halesowen so obviously we called in to see Ray.
When we arrived at Pegasus Court we couldn't find him but we were told he had walked to the Doctors. It took a while to find out which doctors surgery and where it was but eventually we met Ray as he walked out of the surgery. It turned out that he had some infection as a result of the facial surgery he had undergone, his face was badly swollen, and he was supposed to go to a hospital near Dudley. We were very upset that an 90year old man was sent out of a Doctors to find his own way to a hospital quite a distance away.
We rang Jane and Louise to let them know what was happening and that we were driving Ray to the hospital. Ray was a very good navigator but concerned that we would have a long wait and that the parking was very expensive. As it turned out, I didn't think the parking fees were expensive but what I did notice was the width of the parking bays. We had commented before how narrow, in general, parking bays are in the UK and would have thought that those in hospital car parks would have been wider to allow car doors to open fully to facilitate patients getting in and out. I suppose that's too obvious, when you can cram more cars in an area and get more revenue why not!
Anyway as it happened we were lucky to get a corner wedge shaped bay and no problems getting out. When we got inside the hospital it was about 12:15 and a notice board stated that there was a 6 hour waiting delay. What could we do but grin and bare it.
Fortunately Ray had been given a letter by his Doctor which we presented at reception and within an hour we were ushered through. The Docs letter suggested that Ray should be kept in overnight and put on a antibiotic drip.
We were shown into a neat and tidy little room by a very nice young nurse, who Ray charmed immediately, and who called in a Doctor. After having swabs taken and new dressings applied to his face, the Doctor said that she thought he would be better off at home in his familiar surroundings and put him on antibiotic tablets. After picking up the prescription from the hospital pharmacy we arrived back at Pegasus Court at 15:30 which quite surprised me. You read and hear about miss treatment and long waiting times in UK hospitals but I was quite impressed by the help and courtesy given to Ray. I think the doctors letter and his age got us to the head of the queue.
After a nice cup of tea and making sure Ray was safe and sound we headed on to Shrewsbury where Jane had prepared a nice dinner. A nice relaxed evening once a phone call to Ray assured us that he was fine and feeling a little better already.