The London bombings: a hospital doctor's experience

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7509.166

BMJ 2005;331:166 (16 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7509.166

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The London bombings: a hospital doctor's experience

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I work as a cardiology registrar at University College LondonHospital. On Thursday 7 July 2005 I started a ward round at8 am. Towards the end of this round we were interrupted by anannouncement that the hospital had just gone on to major incidentalert, as "four bombs had gone off and multiple casualties wereexpected." Our reaction to this news was initially shock anddisbelief, but as soon as the staff realised the enormity ofwhat had happened they all did everything they could to help.

Credit: Alisdair MacDonald/Rex

Senior medical staff quickly and proficiently assessed everypatient on the medical wards, and all stable patients were takento our sister hospital, the Middlesex. Porters and nurses workedtogether, helping patients from beds to wheelchairs; and ambulancestransferred patients across to the other hospital in a carouselfashion. The receiving doctors accepted patients without questionand efficiently . . . [Full text of this article]

Alexander Wai Ying Chen, specialist registrar in cardiology

London dralexchen@doctors.org.uk

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