It’s hard to be a patient if you are a healthcare worker. You may have specific knowledge about conditions, but being a patient involves giving up degrees of autonomy and trusting the people looking after you. A positive bowel screening test forced me to confront symptoms I’d been having (and rationalising) for a while, & a colonoscopy confirmed my diagnosis. Timely surgery, temporary colostomy and chemotherapy later, I’m now on the recovery highway, & should be ok for the future.
My previous experiences gave me confidence in the staff in the Western, & so it proved. Nursing, portering, domestic, radiography/ology, phlebotomy staff and others have been terrific in their kindness and patient focused attitudes. Their professionalism shone through, particularly when I wasn’t so well on a few occasions. Although I knew several of the people looking after me from other circumstances, everyone was very professional and treated me as they treated others, with respect and expertise. Mr Paterson and Dr Brown were in charge of my care, but others (Dr Ho, Ms Barron, Dr Glancy for example) were fantastic in the way they dealt with me and my travails. My GP has been terrific all through my problems in the last 2 years, Dr Dunn & staff in Muirhouse Medlcal Group.
"Colorectal cancer care"
About: General practices in Lothian General practices in Lothian Edinburgh EH16 4SA Western General Hospital / General Surgery Western General Hospital General Surgery EH4 2XU
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