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"I feel the new system is not working"

About: Belfast City Hospital / Pharmacy Oncology / Cancer Centre Ward 3A

(as the patient),

I get bloods taken once a month, and if they are good I start my monthly cancer treatment the next day. I used to call to ward 3a in the  evening where after a bit of a wait - usually 15-60 minutes -  I’d get my medicines. These are tablets for three weeks, I have one week off before returning to the clinic to repeat the process.

There is a new process in place which is not working. I am aware of a number of people in my position also with secondary breast cancer of the same view as me, however I am speaking only for myself in this communication.

The new process is that I now return two days after clinic to collect medicines, which renders me short in being off treatment for one week at the end of the cycle. I could stop my cycle early by one day but that doesn’t seem feasible. I am also now waiting longer for collection despite having a specific collection time- last month it was 90 minutes, the time previously it was 80 minutes, the time prior to that I left after 35 minutes for a physio appointment and when I returned they were ready.

I feel the new system is not working, resulting in longer waiting times at the ward door and shorter time allowed to complete a full monthly cycle of cancer treatment.

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Responses

Response from Helen Poots, Lead Nurse, Cancer Centre, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust 2 weeks ago
Helen Poots
Lead Nurse, Cancer Centre, Belfast City Hospital,
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Submitted on 02/10/2025 at 16:47
Published on Care Opinion at 16:47


Thank you very much for writing about your experience in the Cancer Centre. I am very sorry that this has been a poor experience and I am keen to discuss this with you in more detail so that we can make improvements to how we deliver medicines to our patients.

I would very much appreciate if you would contact me at your earliest convenience and look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Helen

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