"Husband cancer diagnosis"

What I liked

The speed with which he was collected ( 10 minutes) by the ambulance staff, scanned, diagnosed and operated on after I called emergency services because he was in such pain.

He was diagnosed in July 2010 but despite being scheduled for MRI as an outpatient, he refused to go twice. The final time, the staff were not aware of the amount of pain he was in even though they had been told and therefore were not able to get him on the scanner.

After he was admitted on the wednesday, he was scanned the next day, and by Friday morning they were ringing round to find a hospital for the operation to remove a tumour on his spine. The consultant I spoke to on the Friday night told me the results of the scan.

Saturday morning he was operated on. He was returned to North Manchester General Hospital the following Friday. I cannot praise the staff responsible for making this happen highly enough.The staff managing his recovery were knowledgable, considerate, caring and sensitive in managing the recovery process. The staff including OTs, doctors and nurses and auxiliary staff in the reabilitation ward have been fantastic in managing his subsequent reabilitation and treatment program.

What I did not like

There was no consultant present at the first appointment as an outpatient.

The lack of prepared staff at the final outpatient MRI.

Communication of ambulance staff when he was transferred to another hospital as part of his reabilitation. They were due at 1.30 but unfortunately nobody told the staff on the ward or me or the team at the other hospital that the ambulance staff were delayed and had to have their lunch. I ran down to casualty to see if any ambulance staff were free and they collected him. He had to wait 2 hours to be collected after the treatment.