"Overall the care we have received has been exemplary"

In 2021 my husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 42. It was a  shocking diagnosis, but once he was under the care of the HPB team at Glasgow Royal we knew we were where we needed to be. 

He underwent chemo, a Whipple procedure and unfortunately required further treatment for recurrence a year later and is still with the team now. 

The outstanding member of the service to us is Mr Dickson. He is honest, warm, compassionate and really takes time to listen and genuinely cares. Every encounter with Miss Coates, Mr Jamieson and all the other medics were also very positive (even when the conversations were hard). All the nursing staff. HCSWs, domestics, porters….were fantastic. 

Our Oncologist at the Beatson, Dr Graham, has always been approachable and supportive and has done so much to make our lives easier. As has her phenomenal secretary Vicky! Recently Dr Grose has been another positive encounter in our treatment journey. 

The only negative we have experienced has been the difficulty in accessing CNS support. At diagnosis there was contact in the ward and a few calls to home. Soon after it appeared to stop - apart from a staff member at the Beatson. We rarely contact the CNS office, partly because we’re self-sufficient and tech savvy enough to often find what we need ourselves, but partly because we’ve learned it feels pointless. Calls will go several days without being returned and the onus appears to be on us to chase things. When you’re already frightened or unwell this shouldn’t be the case. When we have succeeded, the responses have been somewhat terse - a massive contrast to our experience in every other area.

We’ve no doubt the service is under huge pressure, and likely understaffed as much of the NHS is, and we don’t expect immediate responses. However trying to get calls returned over two weeks, just to ask a question, is a huge stress in an already difficult situation. 

Overall the care we have received has been exemplary and we can’t thank the hospital teams enough for their care.