Dr Francesco Forconi

Dr Francesco Forconi 2022-07-21 Person 2 5 0

Dr Forconi seems like a nice caring doctor with good intentions. However, if you have something really serious you may not get fast diagnostic tests / or results here - which is the whole point of going private. I think that lets down his care. Mum chose this doctor as he's a professor or lymphomas so he seemed like the best choice at the time. His team were lovely & very efficient to start with but it all falls apart on testing... To be fair, the doc ordered tests really quickly next day... but I suspect as he had concerns about mums finances (she had the money in bank) he decided to get tests done through the NHS. Perhaps a terrible decision in hindsight - mum died 4 weeks later of Diffuse large B cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma It took 3+ weeks to get bone marrow biopsy results... The ultrasound guided biopsy team didn't even look at the location of the lumps before declining a test on health & safety grounds as mum already had a bone marrow biopsy same morning. As it happened had they looked they would have seen she had a lump just under the skin which would have taken 15 seconds to do - no one called mum to re-arrange that test for another 6 days - by then mum was too sick to travel & already had one done by the NHS. The doc did a good thorough examination & unlike other doctors was at least able to spot a fast aggressive cancer. Sadly he did not recognise mum's cancer as lymphoma initially & thought it might be epithelial cancer... which gave us reason to doubt we even had the right specialist. which is not great, As an expert in Lymphomas he did not recognise mum's condition - he missed the common symptoms like night sweats, weight loss, loss of appetite, extreme tiredness or fatigue cough & fevers. I appreciate other cancer may have the same symptoms however he did see the CT scan the following day and nothing was communicated to us that this looks like Lymphoma (other doctors believed it was) So mum was still none the wiser whether we were seeing the right specialist It's hard to say whether mum would have made a recovery or not if treatment started earlier - but I feel she would have certainly had a better chance if biopsies & results were delivered fast - that really why people go private. Mum did not receive that service. to put it simply It would have helped if: A) the doc believed he was dealing with a lymphoma B) the tests were carried out quickly & treatment started fast C) the biopsy teams actually looked at the lump locations before declining tests Whilst I cant blame the doctor - mum did place her trust into his care & if he was not able to get the tests or results fast he should have said so we could have gone else where... The doc did offer to speak to me after mums death,,, then failed to communicate to make that arrangement - just another disappointment in a long line of disappointments I hope this doc surrounds himself with more efficient/more caring diagnostic teams & is more transparent with patients as to the timescales for getting results - especially where he suspects an aggressive cancer - he was right on that. In hindsight perhaps he should have admitted mum to hospital as she was declining fast. She was a fit & very active woman just 8 weeks earlier.