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Care Opinion

Cold and clinical service

Posted By TM68

"Cold and clinical service"

About: NHS Tayside / East Scotland Breast Screening Centre

(as the patient),

In the past couple of months, I've presented for a Cervical Smear and a Mammogram.

For both procedures, I was incredibly anxious.

Neither service addressed my anxiety in any way. At no point was I asked if I was comfortable or offered reassurance. I felt invisible. 

I became distressed before the smear and left the room. I couldn't handle the situation. The nurse showed no interest and there was no follow-up. 

I cried and disocciated during my mammogram. Nobody addressed this in any way. I couldn't leave the cubicle afterwards as I was so distressed. Nobody checked in on me.

I have 4 friends currently under treatment for cancers that are screened for. I believe in these services. 

But I can't see how I will ever accept my invitations in future. 

Do staff receive any training in handling such situations? Are staff selected regardless of empathy or understanding? Is pushing numbers through keeping to the 7 minute appointment time more important than remembering that there may be reasons that someone may find these procedures daunting/frightening/triggering?

Or, because they perform these procedures daily, have staff forgotten that patients are human and these procedure are a big thing for the patient?

I'm a great advocate of the NHS and preventative healthcare, but these experiences have damaged my trust.

Throughout the mammogram procedure, my breasts were constantly referred to as "the tissue". I am medically trained so I understand what is meant by "tissue". I suspect many women don't. What a cold, clinical way to advise a woman of what's happening, to say they are just going to move the tissue a little. Who decides these are appropriate terms to use, especially with women who may be anxious?

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Responses

Response from Victoria Sullivan, Care Opinion Manager, NHS Tayside 14 months ago
Victoria Sullivan
Care Opinion Manager,
NHS Tayside

Manage Care Opinion within NHS Tayside and project manage and facilitate change programmes, transformation and service redesign across NHS Tayside and its surrounding Health & Social Care Partnerships

Submitted on 03/03/2023 at 12:41
Published on Care Opinion at 12:41

picture of Victoria Sullivan

Dear TM68

I'm sorry to hear about the anxiety and distress you experienced at these recent appointments.

With regard to your cervical smear appointment, to be able to pass your feedback on to the relevant team, it would be helpful to understand where you attended for this procedure. If you are able to let me know I can then ensure this team is made aware of how you felt.

As both appointments are very important in terms of preventative healthcare, as you mentioned, it is disappointing to hear that you would have difficulty accepting invitations to either in the future. Hopefully through your feedback, both teams will be able to provide you with reassurance that you will feel more supported and that any future appointments will be a less traumatic experience for you.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Victoria Sullivan

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Update posted by TM68 (the patient)

Contact details would be helpful...

Response from Victoria Sullivan, Care Opinion Manager, NHS Tayside 14 months ago
Victoria Sullivan
Care Opinion Manager,
NHS Tayside

Manage Care Opinion within NHS Tayside and project manage and facilitate change programmes, transformation and service redesign across NHS Tayside and its surrounding Health & Social Care Partnerships

Submitted on 06/03/2023 at 10:47
Published on Care Opinion at 10:49

picture of Victoria Sullivan

Hi TM68

Thanks for your reply. If you could send these details to tay.careopinon@nhs.scot we will then be able to pass your feedback on to the service you used.

Many thanks

Victoria

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Response from Lesley Grattan, Breast Imaging Services Manager, NHS Tayside 14 months ago
Lesley Grattan
Breast Imaging Services Manager,
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 08/03/2023 at 09:59
Published on Care Opinion at 10:16

Dear TM86,

Mammography

Here in breast screening, we are very sorry to hear about your experience of your mammography screening appointment and the distress it caused you. We want to reassure you that all our staff are fully trained in delivering both the operational and interpersonal aspects of the screening service. We have reminded staff to empathise by looking at things from the perspective of a patient who is new to screening.

The length of a standard appointment is short, but we do offer longer appointments for anyone who feels they would need some extra time. We take on board your comment about the terminology used at your appointment, and are asking staff to choose more user-friendly language. We do hope you will feel able to take up your next appointment, and by contacting us you can arrange for this to be slightly longer to allow the staff to ensure you are happy with each step.

Kind regards,

Lesley

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Response from Daisy Brand, Senior Nurse for Gynaecology Services, Gynaecology, NHS Tayside 14 months ago
Daisy Brand
Senior Nurse for Gynaecology Services, Gynaecology,
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 10/03/2023 at 10:12
Published on Care Opinion at 10:12

Dear TM68

I am saddened to learn of the anxiety and stress you have felt relating to the recent appointments you have attended.

I note the reply above from a Colleague within the Breast Imaging Service and hope this is reassuring to you.

In regards to your Cervical Smear appointment I understand that you attended your appointment within your GP practice. It is important that your experience is fed back to this practice in order that they can address aspects of care that may have fallen short for future Patient's / experiences. Hopefully having this opportunity will reassure you and reduce any anxiety in regards to attending important future Cervical Smear screening appointments.

Best wishes.

Daisy Brand

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Update posted by TM68 (the patient)

Further to a previous story about the traumatic experiences within NHS Tayside for breast screening (mammogram) and cervical smear testing, neither of which were addressed by the services, I am writing this so these services are aware of the ongoing damage they cause when things are not handled appropriately.

I had a mammogram over 10 weeks ago. I was told results were taking up to 8 weeks to be sent out.

I'm still waiting.

As a result of the incredibly traumatic experience during the mammogram and a lack of interest in supporting me since, I am unwilling/unable to contact the service by phone to follow-up my results.

I realise that my long-term health is at risk but the psychological damage caused outweighs the pragmatic self-care I know that I should be following.

I am too traumatised to attend further mammograms and am too anxious to pick up the telephone to ask where my results are.

This is unusual for me. I'm generally confident in situations like this but the unempathetic response from NHS Tayside in sensitive health anxieties has ruined my confidence.

It does seem that NHS Tayside are only interested in positive feedback.

I suspect I'm not the only woman to have found themselves in this position.

Response from Lesley Grattan, Breast Imaging Services Manager, NHS Tayside 12 months ago
Lesley Grattan
Breast Imaging Services Manager,
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 10/05/2023 at 12:11
Published on Care Opinion at 12:23

Dear TM 68,

I would like to reassure you that we act on all the feedback that we receive - both positive and negative comments, and we use the negative comments to try to improve the service where we can. I'm sorry for the delay in getting your screening results to you. Unfortunately, we are short-staffed with regard to professionals who are trained to read mammography images and this is having a significant detrimental effect on our ability to provide screening clients with their results in a timely way. We are taking steps to improve this through training and employing new staff, but it will take time for these steps to be completed.

Our service has an email address: tay.breastservices@nhs.scot. Perhaps this would be an easier option for you to get in touch with us regarding the delay to your results? Our admin team could then advise you if your images have been read.

Kind regards,

Lesley

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