"How would you like to be treated if you get..."

All the clinical staff in the Lister Macmillan unit are exemplary, from the staff who sterilise the chemo chairs through the wonderful nurses, pharmacist, doctors, phlebotomists and many more. However, the staff on the front desk are letting all these colleagues down with their rude, hostile and inefficient service. I have needed to be treated here for almost 3 years and this poor service by the front desk is known as an issue by the other staff but has clearly not been addressed in this time. For example, this week I checked in at the front desk and was told to take a seat and wait. After almost an hour I went to check with the HCAs who do the weighing etc who told me that the front desk had not let anyone know I was there. On a par with this inefficiency is the rude and indifferent attitude displayed; the saddest thing I have ever seen in that unit was a lady and her partner waiting to check in on their first visit; one of them had been recently diagnosed with cancer. After being ignored for several minutes, she turned to me in the queue and commented on how it would be nice to be acknowledged. The front desk lady who had ignored her for this period of time merely replied that she was busy. I was able to reassure the lady that beyond the front desk the other staff would treat her with dignity, care and competence but was left to reflect how being diagnosed with cancer is bad enough but to be treated in this offhand way is compounding the challenge. The most concerning aspect is that this has been an unaddressed issue for at least 33 months. I would like to ask the relevant managers and indeed the front desk staff to reflect on how they would like themselves or their friends and family to be treated at this vulnerable time. This is not the first time I have raised this issue so bland reassurances are hollow; there is no reason to think this will ever be addressed as it is a widely acknowledged amongst the Macmillan unit staff and has become entrenched.