"Warm friendly approach"

As part of my treatment for stage 3 lung cancer I was to undergo 20 sessions of radiotherapy.

I attended the ARI pre planning radiotherapy clinic and had my temporary markers fitted for targeting my tumour by Martin and a team who had a friendly professional manner throughout and who explained what was going to happen and why.

I was sent a letter with my dates and times of treatment which was 20 sessions over 4 weeks . On the Saturday before I started my treatment on the Monday I lost one of my temporary markers and sent them an email to warn them there might be a problem but knowing they wouldn't see it until Monday morning.

On the day of my first radiotherapy session, I was also having chemo and once again there was good communication between the Oncology ward and the Radiotherapy department for when I was to go down to the unit and have my treatment. With drip attached, I arrived at the unit and again the friendly and professional manner was to the fore and the loss of one of my temporary markers did not pose a problem. The treatment from arriving to leaving only took about 10 minutes and I was on my way back to the Oncology ward to complete my chemo.

The next day I arrived at the unit for my second session and when my name was called. I was met in a friendly and professional manner with the operators introducing themselves and asking me how I was getting on as they walked me through to start my second session. Rachel and Emer then replaced my temporary markers and gave me permanent markers which I believe are smaller than a freckle.

Markers completed it was on with the treatment and I was walking out of the unit after about ten minutes. Subsequent visits followed the same pattern without the need for further permanent markers. Only once during my visits was there a problem with one of the machines and a small backlog of patients arose but everyone was kept informed of how long the delay would be, about 30 mins in this instance, but where there was spare capacity on the two other machines this was utilised and the backlog quickly cleared.

After a week of treatment I had my first weekly phone call from Debbie who asked how I was feeling and if I had any issues with the treatment. On my third week I mentioned to Debbie that my throat had become sore when swallowing food or drink. Debbie explained that this was because of where my tumour was and that there would be medicine for me to collect at my next appointment which would help reduce the inflammation and also anaesthetise the throat which it did do. On my final phone call with Debbie she took great care to stress that should I have any problems after returning home then the unit was still there to give advice and help and she also made sure I had the phone number of my Cancer link nurse and how to contact her.

Throughout the treatment all staff made it a good experience with their warm friendly approach ,professional manner and that any concerns regarding treatment / side effects  would be dealt with .