Communication

Today I was behind schedule, so I had to complete the journey to the hospital in less than 35 minutes. This is not an easy thing to do once you get into the city, since there are traffic lights, parked cars, pedestrians, shopping trolleys and so on to negotiate. However, I made it, glad that I was travelling alone, since my language, when delayed, shocked even me!

I arrived at the hospital with five minutes to spare.

Typical, isn't it? There was a delay in getting in for treatment!

However, today was the day that I had to see the doctor to discuss how the treatment is affecting me. In fact, I was sent to see the nurse specialist. And this is when I realised (again) that communication channels in the health service could be improved. The nurse specialist expressed surprise that she hadn't met me at Hospital Number 2 when I saw Doctor X.

While I had expected to go to Hospital Number 2 to meet Doctor X, that hadn't happened. I was referred directly to Hospital Number 3 after a case conference including Doctor X at Hospital Number 2 (though I only found out by phoning Hospital 2 to ask what was happening about my treatment). The first official notification I had of this decision was when an appointment letter for Hospital Number 3 arrived.

It seems, however, that I wasn't the only person excluded from information about where I would be treated and who I would meet - nobody seems to have made a note of this or informed the nurse specialist either.

When she read my notes aloud, to ensure that she had the correct patient in the room with her, I realised that not only had I not been to a meeting at Hospital Number 2, but nobody has ever discussed my treatment with me, apparently assuming that I knew what had been decided. In fact, I do, but only because my family doctor had received a letter from the hospital and showed me the contents when I went to see her about something else. I have never been told directly what that decision was. Indeed, even my initial visit to meet the consultant oncologist's team and to sign my consent form did not give me that vital bit of information. Although a lot of attention was paid to my psychological condition (how was I feeling about all this?), I even had to ask how many sessions of radiotherapy I would need to attend before it seemed to occur to anyone that I might like to know!

Things have improved dramatically in terms of doctor-patient communication since I first started working with medical English in the 1980s, but there's still a way to go, it seems!

What I've learned from these encounters is that it's necessary to ask for clarification at every stage.

So, my advice? Don't worry about asking questions - if you want to know something, or if you think you haven't been told something, you have every right to ask. The only stupid question is the question you don't ask.