"Excellence, patience and professionalism under pressure"

I have recently had successful surgery to remove my insulinoma bout would like to highlight the excellent care provided by my GP and local hospital consultant in diagnosing this rare tumour. My symptoms started 6-7 year ago with chronic fatigue (initially brain fog, but then full body symptoms) that gradually worsened

I would like to particularly thank Dr Costley, my GP at Stewarton Medical Centre, Stewarton, East Ayrshire. His persistence, believing that there was something wrong with me even when tests came back with normal results, openness to look for less obvious causes and tests to try but ultimately the ability to spot a small change in my blood sugar level tests 4-6 months apart that lead to the diagnosis of the insulinoma. He always took time to speak to me and proposed treatments and tests moving forward and was happy/keen for me to read around those options jointly agree next steps.

I would also like to highlight the excellence, patience and professionalism under pressure of the other staff at Stewarton medical centre operating under significant pressure during COVID, but always being polite and helpful when I phoned up and explaining what I needed to do.

Dr Ferguson, endocrine specialist at Crosshouse Hospital. – formal diagnosis of insulinoma.

Given the pressure that the hospital was under due to COVID, my tests and diagnosis was always going to be slow. Dr Ferguson was clear on the tests needed and it would just be a matter of time waiting for space in the hospital. Dr Ferguson was excellent in that he worked with me to find a way to carry out the 72 hour fasting test as a day patient, cutting the waiting time by at least 6 months .

My only disappointment was the amount of time it took me to get the results from the blood test (results back within 5 days) but it was nearly 3 months before Dr Ferguson was able to look at the results and confirm the diagnosis as an insulinoma. I suspect this is a reflection of the pressure that Drs are on, but given there were 4 numbers in the blood test that needed to be reviewed it was not a time-consuming review; outpatient results reviews do seem to have a much lower priority vs in-patients

Once the blood test confirmed an insulinoma, the referral to the multi-disciplinary team based at Glasgow Royal Infirmary worked well and the link to the surgical team worked very well. There was some inefficiency in booking of the necessary scans requested by the MDT by the team at Crosshouse – I assume due to paperwork and authorisation requirements

Isobel, Dr Ferguson’s secretary, has been fantastic - polite, professional, calls me back when she says she will, but is realistic in setting expectations – thanks for putting up with my (hopefully) polite but persistent pestering.