"Caring for my father with Cancer diagnosis"

My father is a stage 3 cancer patient and his condition deteriorates at times with further complications. The only consistent treatment is for him to have a hormone Implant every 3 months.

My father is illiterate, Has language barriers and has no skill set to access internet. As such, this requires me to lead this on his behalf.

Today, I walked into surgery to request an appointment with Dr Colvin to admit my fathers injection as it requires a particular skill set and my father was left feeling very anxious after being previously left with some bruising. The lady at the front desk, Shazia, went over and beyond her remit to try and secure this for me. She was attentive and knowledgeable. As Dr Colvin isn’t our usual doctor, Shazia needed to check this with her. In order not to cause any inconvenience, she politely recommended that she’d call me and that I didn’t need to wait. Within few minutes I had a phone call to say it would not be possible to secure an appointment with Dr Colvin however instead we could see one of the nurses whom DR Colvin suggested. Unfortunately, the nurse was not available until the 10th meaning we couldn’t book this appointment as the injection needs to be admitted by the 5th. Shazia kindly assisted me further and booked this appointment. She also submitted a request for prescription at my chosen pharmacy.

In an ordinary scenario, I would have questioned re practices policies and accessibility however as Shazia’s attitude and efforts were remarkable I would not doubt this practices service. Thank you for being so sensitive towards the needs of carers of cancer patients who already have a challenge in everyday life.

Constructive feedback: I also work with vulnerable and unrepresented families across education, health and social care sector within Hackney. I’m Mindful that no one set of policies can ever be accessible to the entire community. However, given that Lawson Practice serves such dynamic range of its community, I would like to make a recommendation that it reviews its processes on appointment bookings. I am trying to Empower my father to have his life as independent as can be and booking a doctors appointment for a stage 3 cancer patient should not necessitate him to have ICT knowledge to do this online.

Please revise your accessibility processes to make reasonable adjustments for pupils with disabilities in line with equality act 2010.

I am able to articulate my needs and can 100% access your care however my recommendation is for disadvantaged and disabled community members.

On the whole, we are grateful with the care that our practice offers and I’m particularly grateful for Dr Semere’s ongoing care and support! ! Thank you all