"The Leeds way"

My loved one anxiously arrived for their first outpatient chemotherapy treatment at the oncology unit at St James' hospital J80. We were greeted with a friendly smile by the receptionist in the waiting area, which was appreciated.

Sadly the nurse assigned to us called my relative by the wrong name which was not a great start especially as they had her notes.

Then we were taken to the treatment room and shown to an armchair which turned out to be broken. My relative asked how to raise the footrest and was told it was manually and the nurse would do it later, despite being told why the patient needed to support her leg. (Not being attentive to the patients needs).

Whilst I appreciate that staff are clearly very busy I expect patients being treated with palliative CT to receive the best possible care and support through the most difficult time of their lives.

The nurse did return later to lift the footrest and had to prop it up with a chair as it was broken! (Not delivering care in a safe environment).

Treatment was then given in a professional manner to our satisfaction.

Well done to the lovely staff member who made us a much needed cup of tea.

We had to return to the unit on the following day to see the Doctor after our other appointments. When we arrived the same nurse apologized as the Dr in question was not working that morning, as we had been led to believe and the nurse was trying to contact another one. Fair enough, mistakes happen.

We were asked to wait in an empty room with what looked like another broken armchair! After patiently waiting over 30 mins I returned to the desk to ask how much longer we would have to wait but the nurse did not know..I asked for some idea, could we be waiting hours? The nurse again said they did not know. I was frustrated by this as why didn't they know? They could have gone the extra mile and found out for us! We waited a bit longer and finally this nurse came to tell us that the Dr was just in the middle of something and was coming to see us but still did not know how long they would be!! Why not ask? In the end when pressed the nurse finally said it shouldn't be too long. That was all we needed to hear in the first place rather than making our visit more stressful than it needed to be!!! ( Be honest and Fair and treat patients how you would wish to be treated).