"Excellent staff and care"

My mum has had several gynae out patient appointments over the last few months as the team at Ninewells tried to understand the cause and nature of a growth on her ovary, which was picked up by CT scan in December 2021. In the end she had to have a hysterectomy and the cyst was removed.

Fortunately the cyst is not cancerous, which was everyone’s fear. Whilst it has been an incredibly difficult few months for my mum and her loved ones we wanted to write and thank all those we came into contact with on this journey. Particularly Dr Nellore, Dr Ragupathy and Dr Gilbert. Each of these outstanding female doctors treated my mum with great care and respect and made her feel that they truly had her best interests at heart and would do their best for her. We believe Dr Nellore’s determination to be sure that the cyst was not cancerous ensured surgery took place. Dr Gilbert was a constant and reassuring presence at each out patient appointment and also post surgery and Dr Ragupathy, whom performed robot assisted surgery on my mum made every effort to explain things to us pre and post surgery. Her skill as a surgeon meant my mum suffered no negative outcomes from surgery despite potential for this and is in fact all but recovered 4 weeks post operation.

We would also like to thank all the theatre staff and the nurses on Ward 36 who took care of my mum during her short stay pre and post surgery. It was difficult for my mum to be placed on a ward for medicine of the elderly, as I imagine it is for many ladies who are admitted for gynae investigations/surgery. It is our understanding that ladies with gynae difficulties are placed in a ward alongside these elderly ladies as there is no separate gynae ward. Whilst the staff could not have been kinder and we did of course have empathy for the elderly ladies and their loved ones we felt it important to acknowledge that this is not the easiest situation to put gynae patients in as the elderly ladies are often awake and distressed during the night and need a lot of care and attention from the nursing staff. Not to mention the psychological impact of women being confronted with what will potentially be their future when already in a vulnerable state. This is perhaps something for hospital managers to consider.