ANY woman who has gone through the trauma of finding a lump in their breast knows how one is immediately besieged by a whole range of emotions: fear, apprehension, stress and disturbance. It is very consuming and very unnerving.
As we know, upon discovery of a lump, the first essential move is to see one’s GP immediately. The visit to the GP will typically be followed by immediate fast-track referral to a team of specialists who will investigate the problem. As we go through this worrying time we need to feel that we are in safe, caring and professional hands. I am writing to tell you of my experience at the Great Western Hospital, Swindon in the Breast Care Unit where the professionals there are exactly the people whom a woman needs under such circumstances.
In my case I was referred to the wonderful ladies of the Rapid Access Team and I could not have been treated better by them. From the beginning till the end of my appointment I experienced such excellence in thoroughness, sensitivity and efficiency that I knew I was in the hands of people who are at the top of their profession.
First, and before I even attended my appointment, the very kind appointment administrator for the Rapid Access Team went out of her way to call me twice on the same day to ensure that I knew of my appointment. She was able to offer me an appointment at very short notice due to a last-minute cancellation. My son had taken the first telephone call and rightly accepted the appointment on my behalf but the good lady wanted to double-check that I had received the message and confirm the time for my appointment and thus her second call.
Once at my appointment I was guided and reassured by two very professional and personable nurses who work in tandem with each other. They both had the grace of lovely manners, they introduced themselves to me clearly by name and then introduced me to each of the specialists personally as they escorted me from room to room.
The first step was with a highly skilled expert who managed to shuffle me through a painful mammogram and somehow make it easier by swiftly manoeuvring me through the necessary contortions with kindness, admirable expertise and dignity.
From there I was taken to meet a senior doctor who performed an ultrasound reading. Everything about her approach gave me the profound realisation that I was in experienced and trustworthy hands. It was so very calming and reassuring on such a worrying day.
My final meeting was with the consultant who was clearly a highly practised and knowledgeable senior in her field of medicine and yet, as with her colleagues, she was gentle and caring with a keen sense of my own personal feelings as she did her job.
The Rapid Access Team is an impeccable group of professionals working with such efficiency and kindness leaving the patient with her dignity intact as well as being able to move them through each step of the procedure swiftly but in a generous spirited manner.
I believe that most, if not all, of the staff who saw me that day had been on duty for 12 hours; I was the last patient at the end of a very long day. While at work they also have to pay to park their cars at the GWH, which is a travesty. I would have forgiven them if they had been tired and their nerves frayed but instead I received nothing but kindness and humanity.
My first thought when I awoke this morning was what skilled and lovely people I had met and I reflected on how they had somehow magically managed to make a distressing and upsetting time so very much easier for me.
My heartfelt thanks to The Rapid Access Team of the Breast Care Unit and all at the Great Western Hospital, Swindon.
JESS MAIDMENT
Wilcot
Pewsey