Forum Topic

Cancer Care

So as reported by Ealing Today that Hammersmith and Ealing are some of the worst hospitals in the country for cancer care, where would you go instead?

George Knox ● 5451d20 Comments

GeorgeWhile I agree with the sentiment of your post, I simply cannot be bothered (as harsh as that may seem) to waste my time and energy following this up. There is sytemic change needed most notably to the cleaning regeime and by the time the changes are implemented and could be verified it is likely that the damned place will be closed/merged  anyway

Nigel Brooks ● 5405d

Totally incorrect.I know it is a pain but if you are sufficiently driven/angry you enquire a while later to get confirmation that changes actually have been implemented, and what exactly is the nature of the change implemented.If the recipient of a complaint says something will be done, that is not good enough. You now ask for a date when the change will be done - in writing. The quality of how this complaint has been dealt with sounds, without having seen it, as though it is unsatisfactory.Troublesome to do this? Yes. But who pays?And if you live locally and have to go to hospital suddenly the ambulance will take you to your nearest hospital. Ealing again??

George Knox ● 5406d

It was less than the complete 'capitulation' I had hoped for but was an adequate apology with a promise of changes to address the systemic failures I identified.As I, God willing, have no intention of ever darkening the in-patient doors of that place again, I guess that I shall have to rely on trust that the changes are actually implemented.

Nigel Brooks ● 5406d

Thanks George. I already have the form for the Ombudsman as i suspect that the response from Ealing will be less than complete.

Nigel Brooks ● 5411d

I had a similar experience to your wife's, Nigel. Two years ago my husband was whisked into Hammersmith with a blocked artery to await an angioplasty. When I went in the next day, the staff at the desk denied all knowledge of him and I thought maybe he'd died in the night and nobody had bothered to tell me.

Susan Kelly ● 5411d

You could write to the Care Quality Commission London - not about chasing up your specific complaint as that is outside their brief. But what is in their brief is to monitor and report on the quality of complaints procedures and they certainly are compiling information on this subject. Contact isTracy NortonTracy-Jayne.Norton@cqc.org.ukCompliance InspectorCare Quality Commission LondonWhen your specific complaint is exhausted and you are still not happy then you may wish to raise it with the Ombudsman - but not before.http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint/how-to-complain/what-can-we-help-withHowever if Ealing are inordinately slow in giving you a full written reply you could telephone the Ombudsman and enquire as to whether they would put a rocket up the proverbials so as to hasten a response.

George Knox ● 5411d

Thank you Susan.I should make it clear that I have few complaints about the quality of clinical care. It is simply the administration that falls down time and time again. In the last two years I have had three cancelled appointments, two cancelled operations (the second reinstated when I threatened to 'go public big time')and been lost in the system so that when my wife called to check on my condition post-operatively she was told that (great choice of words) he is "not with us any more". I am thoroughly (and excuse my bluntness) pissed off with the overpaid unresponsive bally lot of them.

Nigel Brooks ● 5411d

That's disgusting, Nigel. Good luck with your complaint.

Susan Kelly ● 5411d

Anywhere but Ealing.I am still awaiting a response to a formal complaint lodged on 11 April relating to post-operative care following minor surgery (broken bed, surrounded by someone else's food debris, used syringe (not mine) on the bedside chair etc. I delivered (after persuading the receptionist to stop discussing cosmetics with her colleague and turning her back on me an another visitor in order that she could continue her conversation) a 'chaser' letter last week and got a telephone response that "there has been a delay in responding to your complaint". O Really?! You couldn't make up the incompetence of the administration at that place.

Nigel Brooks ● 5412d

Our "illustrious" MP V Sharma actually was seen this week asking a question in the House.A nervous sort of performance which explains perhaps why he does not dare speak very often at all.He asked Cameron directly if there are plans to close Ealing Hospital.There are no plans, the PM replied.

George Knox ● 5413d

The Daily Mail seem to be taking a big interest in Ealing hospital at the moment:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384422/Special-investigation-Inside-migrant-maternity-ward-NHS-struggling-cope.htmlI will try and get more comment next week.Annemarie

Editor ● 5448d

AnnemarieThank you, and hope you had a good break.I speak to few about Ealing hospital, but there is a fairly common reaction which says that people would much rather go to any hospital other than Ealing. My own very few experiences have not been bad except for the cleaning standards and long waits for appointments.Frankly I find it hard if not impossible to form a view, and without trawling through endless stats which I am not inclined to do I remain none the wiser.From what you say posssibly this is a public relations exercise and it is perhaps time that the very senior management grasped the nettle and told us more publicly and more frequently what their problems are and in particular what steps they are taking (and the timescales) to persude us that their reputation is based on a false premise.Quite coincidentally an Ealing surgeon recently told me that one of the main problems is that Ealing continues to get very little government money because there have been long term wishes to close the hospital and merge with NorthWick Park. At the same time it was said that unlike other hospitals in west London Ealing does not run at a loss.These are just snips of info and it would be interesting if someone out there were able to provide more insight into what we might think about our hospital and how it might become better established and where it really should improve.

George Knox ● 5449d

Well you can only speak as you find, my cancer was (well still is technically) treated at Ealing - and I cannot - fault them.

viv ellis ● 5449d

Hi GeorgeI have been away so just catching up on this. The hospital is claiming low response rates to survey - here's their line (as running in Gazette). Julie Halliday, director of nursing at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, said it is the low response rates to the national survey by their patients which is the main reason for Ealing being ranked so far down.She said: “The response rate to the patients’ survey is extremely low and gives no real indication of what our cancer patients’ needs are. We know there are some issues around how staff communicate to patients we need to address and we will be holding further training for ward staff.“We've had a cancer patients’ user group at the hospital for many years and we recently boosted the membership of that group to 16 members."The group meets with our Cancer Lead Nurse Sarah Gigg and her team every two months, and we gain valuable advice and suggestions about how we can improve our services.”She added the hospital planned to set up focus groups to engage as many cancer patients as possible.Annemarie

Editor ● 5449d

Thank you Susan for rightly keeping me on my toes.I wonder if the Editor might wish to pursue this finding with the hospital and ask some big wig to comment on plans for improvement.Is that you AnneMarie, and would you not be best/better placed to do this? Thanks

George Knox ● 5449d

Charing Cross every time. Although, thank God, I have not had cancer treatment the quality of care I have received for a long-standing orthopaedic problem has been outstanding. In addition, the hospital is spotlessly clean and one is trated like an individual rather than a 'target'.Far too many bad experiences with Ealing Hospital.

Nigel Brooks ● 5451d

In my local pub (the excellent Rose and Crown in South Ealing next to St. Mary's Church) Ealing Hospital is not named at the bar as this is perceived as bad luck. Instead it is referred to as that place where people go to die especially among the older people. Usually eyes are averted and voices are slightly hushed when the place is mentioned.

Camilla Horsfall ● 5451d

With the sole exception of mental health care you can choose which hospital you are referred to these days, and your GP can even ask for referral to a hospital outside of this NHS administrative area. The trick is to be admitted to a hospital that can actually help you. When a close friend of mine died over the New Year the ambulance driver who took him to hospital said that he would not allow his pwn mother to be sent to Ealing Hospital because it was so bad and actually suggested that a better approach be would not to call an ambulance in some situations, but rather to take a mini cab or have a friend take you to somewhere like Hammersmith Hospital and present yourself at the emergency entrance to be admitted there.The care and medical care at Ealing Hospital is appalling. From personal experience I would avoid having a CAT scan or MRI there, and I would not go near the ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat people), however Hammersmith Hospital does not have an ENT department so discussions with your GP may be protracted. Go elsewhere. Argue with the GP and argue with the ambulance people, your chances of survival and getter better are that much better if you do not go to Ealing Hospital.

Marc Races ● 5451d

My father died of cancer in Hammersmith hospital where he was transferred from Ealing. In Ealing both the treatment he had received and the aftercare were unspeakably bad and the same treatment has befallen my mother there, albeit not for cancer. Hammersmith may be clinically OK but their aftercare and treatment of dying patients is not wildly good either. He died with a wonderful view of the watch tower overlooking wormwood Scrubs. May not be 'important' but he found it distressing and it reminded him of his WW2 years ! If I'm still able to have any say in the matter, I'd rather die in the street than go to Ealing which I'd like to see bombed. Appalling place. I suppose maybe Charing Cross, Chelsea and Westminster or possibly West Mid (of which I have no knowledge). But I doubt I'll get the choice.

Penny Crocker ● 5451d

If you read the story carefully, George, you will see that it does not refer to treatment for cancer, or cure rates, only to nursing and aftercare. What is more important? My husband was cured of cancer at Hammersmith and they are one of the best hospitals in the country, clinically.

Susan Kelly ● 5451d