"Excellent service at urology"

I attended for a Cystoscopy at the Derry Unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone today the 8th January having been referred by my GP due to traces of blood in urine detected at a workplace medical examination.

The staff I encountered were nothing less than professional. The receptionist took my details and escorted me to the waiting area. The nurse then reconfirmed my details and took me into the examination room. Then the doctor explained what he would be doing.

Then its drop my trousers and boxers, up on to the couch, a numbing gel is applied and the camera goes in. I was told that nothing adverse was found and I could get dressed. Then as a bonus, he says "I need to check your prostate" so again I drop my trousers and boxers and a finger goes in the rear end, again nothing adverse here. He did advise that he would like me to have an ultrasound examination and this would be arranged in due course. I did not record the time the process took however there was no excessive sitting around waiting anywhere.

In short I would like to say that I found the cystoscopy process to be perhaps slightly uncomfortable and slightly embarrassing but certainly not painful and I'm sure that the doctors and nurses doing it have seen it all before. If anyone reading this is referred for this procedure please do not worry unduly, it is quite quick and there is plenty of information online. The staff will do their best to answer any questions.

In short I would like to thank all the staff I encountered on my visit for their professionalism, friendliness and support.

Perhaps best of all for me this was at the hospital less than 1 hours walk from my front door, so no driving, no parking, no public transport!