"Superb care of my child at GOSH"

Just over a year ago our teenage daughter was diagnosed with a pilocytic astrocytoma - a form of brain tumour - during an MRI scan at our local hospital to try to pinpoint the cause of some mild hearing loss she'd been suffering. The tumour was the size of a plum and was wrapped around nerves at the back of her brain, including those connected to her ear, hence the hearing loss.

By the following morning she had been admitted to GOSH and was soon in a single room where we could stay with her overnight. We were still reeling with the shock of the diagnosis and waiting for further news, and from the outset the nursing staff were both practical and compassionate, caring for us in our panic as well as for the patient herself, in both physical and psychological terms.

The neurosurgeon assigned to the case was also kind, thoughtful and had a sense of humour which eased the strain on all of us, and took care to keep us fully informed throughout the process of preparing for the ten-hour operation during which the entire tumour was removed. The follow-up MRI scans were clear, and despite a return to GOSH for a few days treatment following her discharge because of an infection in the wound, our daughter was very soon back on the road to recovery, and today is up to date with her A Levels and applying to take a nursing degree.

We have been meaning for a long time to say a public thank-you to all the staff of Koala ward, including the nursing, surgical, catering and cleaning teams, for all of the care given during our daughter's treatment and recovery at GOSH, and to confirm that the care provided there was not only, in our experience, medically excellent but that the nursing (both during her stay and in terms of follow-up by the nurse practitioners) was always done with a combination of extreme professionalism and absolute compassion.

This review seems both late and inadequate in the circumstances, but other than supporting calls for better pay and conditions for NHS staff and making the team a load of cakes (both of which we've already done!), it's hard to know how else to thank them.