"Good experience from nurses & doctors, not the…"

9/6/25 I was seen by the doctor in dermatology regarding a possible cancerous anomaly on the tip of my right ear. She examined it thoroughly and stated she wanted me to return for further treatment in under 3 weeks. She handed me her report etc and directed me to return to the dermatology admin desk to hand over her report and for them to arrange for my appointment. Two of the three ladies in that office dealt with me. One who appeared senior to the others said they couldn't give me an instant date of appointment and she then opened a large brown folder and shoved my report onto a large pile of other papers stating they would be in touch. One week later I still had no date, and mindful of what the lady doctor had told me about 3 weeks, I contacted the hospital and sorted out my own appointment date to return on 19/6/25 at 9am.

On that date I was seen by a ssn and her assisting nurse. Both were friendly, kind, informative and I then had a 'punch biopsy' taken from my right ear after inputting a local anaesthetic. Both ladies constantly reassured me throughout the process and the ssn finished it by inserting 2 stitches. The assisting nurse then took me through the whole post operative side of the treatment and explained thoroughly what had happened and what to look out for regarding initial aftercare. I was told that I would be contacted 2-6 weeks later with a result.

I cannot commend enough the ssn and assistant nurse for their professionalism and care throughout this process. They are a credit to the nhs. However, the Dermatology admin side need to wake up and give a service. They initially referred to me as 'this one' instead of gentleman or patient. Then they did not seem to be initially bothered to find me an appointment within 3 weeks as the lady doctor had instructed me to ask for, and when they put my papers into a 'folder' I just new that I had been 'parked' when they told me someone would contact me and yet they didn't do that.

I had to ring up and instigate the appointment date myself.

So all in all the dermatology nurses score 11 out of 10.

The dermatology admin dept score 5 out of 10 with must try harder and refer to patients as just that and not as 'this one'. In other words be more respectful of who they deal with.