Dr Pasquale Gallo

Written by a patient at Western General Hospital

I was diagnosed on 17 April 2015 with a brain tumour - meningioma - and was told I would need surgery and would be referred to a neurosurgeon. Whilst the tumour was fairly large, it was slow growing and as my symptoms appeared to be mild at the time, I did not receive an appointment to see Mr Gallo until 20 July. However, Mr Gallo called to speak to me around the time of the diagnosis to check my symptoms. He came across as genuinely caring although I was unprepared in terms of questions to ask. He indicated that I should feel free to call his secretary with any questions. When I saw Mr Gallo with my husband he spent around 40 minutes with us explaining meningiomas, growth rate, location, options available - as it had grown to around 4.6cms the only realistic option was for surgery. He was reassuring about the risk whilst being upfront about the more serious side effects as well as the statistics around this. I had a list of questions which he was happy to answer and he put me completely at ease. One of which was asking how many tumours like mine he had removed to gain an understanding of his expertise - he replied hundreds which was reassuring. I was aware that trust in your surgeon is really important and I trusted Mr Gallo 100%. He was happy for me to delay my op by a few weeks to allow me to go to Cuba on holiday. I had a terrific holiday! I saw Mr Gallo again at my pre-op assessment on 10 November. He again spent around 40 minutes going over the updated scan which showed the tumour possibly encroaching on the sinus vein which he indicated may make the operation more complex. If it was on the sinus vein he would not remove all the tumour as it was too risky. As is the case with meningiomas, it is often not until the skull is opened that the exact location is clear. He also explained I would need to go on steroids on the lead up to the operation to reduce the swelling. I did not see Mr Gallo on the day of the operation, at least not that I remember! However it went well and he spoke to my husband afterwards. He came in to see me on the Saturday morning and again midway through my week in hospital. He was confident he had managed to remove the entire tumour and whilst it was stuck to the brain, it came away easily. He also said that he shaved the bone and did everything he could to remove the tumour cells. It was clear he reviewed my notes during my stay in hospital as my steroids were initially increased on his instructions immediately after the operation after some evident right sided weakness. I was led to believe that normal practice is to see the neurosurgeon around 2-6 weeks post op. However my appointment is not until April 2016, nearly five months after the operation. However, I was seen by a neurologist in January and as I had an updated MRI scan on 29 January I e-mailed Mr Gallo with some questions. He telephoned within a day and sent an e-mail providing reassurance about my symptoms and he also confirmed that he would telephone me personally once he had my MRI results. I thought that was excellent evidence of good care. My only comments re improving on care would have been an earlier appointment after diagnosis and after the operation. However, I appreciate the demands on the NHS and that given my diagnosis was that of a non-cancerous brain tumour I can understand why my appointments may have been treated as routine. All in all however, I cannot really fault the care given by Mr Gallo. He appears genuinely concerned about my case and talked in language that was easy to understand both by my husband and myself. He has provided reassurance both my telephone and e-mail. Being aware of other similar cases I know not everyone's care has been as good as mine and for that I am grateful. I would recommend Mr Gallo to anyone.

Trust

Listening

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