Top marks to Beaumont Hospital

Following Monday's less-than-satisfactory phone consultation with my cardiologist's team, I was at Beaumont Hospital this morning for a pacemaker check. A slight anomaly showed up which the nurse-technician said would be brought to the attention of my cardiologist, who'll decide between adding a beta blocker to my meds, running another check in six months, or keeping pacemaker checks on a once-a-year schedule. I mentioned my disappointment at the rather so-what attitude of the person who spoke to me on Monday and was assured that Dr Gumbrielle would be told, as he insists on feedback from patients.

The hospital had a screening system in place, with out-patients routed through a tent structure to have temperature checked and appointments verified before admission to the building. Even more impressive was the pristine state of the buttons in the car park lift, which obviously receive regular and thorough cleaning. Not so much that you could eat your dinner off them (the food would slide off, of course), but they were cleaner than new and acted as little mirrors reflecting multiple (upside-down) self-portraits of Dublin Shooter.