"Avoid if you can"

When I was a child Pinderfields had a reputation as the hospital you go in, but don't come out of. Not much has changed.

Had a generally awful time right throughout my mum's illness - consultants (Gynae and Oncology) seemed to be completely unfamiliar with the concept of patient choice and she felt completely bullied into 'their' treatment pathway. She didn't believe it was right for her, and ultimately it wasn't, but she was convinced that if she didn't do it their way she would not get any treatment at all.

She was given poor information and no choices about cancer treatment,

Poor information after surgery (I don't think the consultant even visited on the ward, and the info the middle grade was able to share was a bit unclear),

No follow appointment with the surgeon and no revised treatment plan from the MDT after surgery failed,

No discussion about palliative options after treatment failed,

No support or advice for dealing with symptoms after end of chemo.

Back in hospital when cancer spreads very aggressively, it was practically impossible to get oncologists to discuss options or prognosis. On oncology ward she was not seen daily on ward rounds, she was given oral paracetamol for days despite being in lots of pain and unable to keep tablets down. Bed wasn't changed daily, she wasn't washed/changed daily (except by family) and she wasn't encouraged/helped to get out of bed so grew weak really quickly.

It was obvious there was a shortage of nurses but some shifts coped better than others.

Some days you had to wait hours for pain relief.

It was a fight for every single piece of information, and every single bit of pain relief. An absolutely exhausting experience for everyone from beginning to end.

You could hear staff outside chatting loudly at all hours, one even singing and dancing about going on holiday.

When you're near patients coming to terms with the fact they will never go on holiday again this is just incredibly insensitive.

Oh and the PALS team only pass emails on, they did not investigate or even make sure I got a response. Contacting them was a complete waste of time.

The only good feedback I can give is that the palliative team - once called in - were really good and put a stop to a number of unnecessary procedures.

Unfortunately Consultants must make a request to palliative care, and they are not doing it soon enough.