Share review of Mr Mark Latimer

Mr Mark Latimer 2017-10-04 Person 5 5 0

My 15 year old son was referred to Mr Latimer by his GP earlier in the summer for a long running rugby injury to his knee. This review is both for Mr Latimer and his team. The NHS often get bad press, but you only ever here the bad things, so I feel I should mention some very good things. I tried not to be too gushing, but not sure I've succeeded... Mr Latimer's team were excellent in arranging my son's initial appointment, fits us in at the earliest possible opportunity, waiting list permitting. Our first visit was with one of Mr Latimer's team, who gave my son a thorough examination complemented with a thorough explanation of what he thought was wrong. An MRI was arranged to validate those views and this was arranged very efficiently, with Mr Latimer's team helping me to arrange a suitable appointment. The follow up appointment was with Mr Latimer himself. Mr Latimer explained to my son what was wrong, and what he could do about it, being factual, realistic but also empathetic in his explanation. He also treated my son as a young adult and spoke to him on an equal level, no hint of his status showing. The operation was booked in and carried out a few days ago. Although it was a long day for our son with no food, not great for a growing teenager, every member of the team were warm, friendly and continued the level of care we had experienced by Mr Latimer and all his team up to this point. We were in a ward with many children with much greater medical needs than my son - a very humbling experience - but the nursing team were great. One particular point to mention was that one of the team took time out to explain everything that would happen, in quite a bit of detail, so we knew exactly what to expect at every stage in the day. Once we got to the operation, Mr Latimer and his supporting registrar explained everything to our son, performed the procedure very efficiently, tidied up nicely and left our son in the capable hands of the recovery team. Finally, Rosie on the main ward got our son fed, watered, wee'd and ready to go home at a pace that suited him. We'll be going back to see Mr Latimer in 6 weeks time, and we will make sure we thank him for looking after our son in such a good way. It's the little things that sometime matter in life, and it was the little things that have meant this experience, albeit not an emergency procedure but one that is very important to our son who just wants to get back to playing rugby, has shown that we should be proud of our HNS, its doctors and all the staff supporting them. If you get referred to Mr Latimer, I'm sure you'll be well looked after too.