The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea)

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-06-03 Person 4 5 0

- Really good, professional and caring radiotherapy team and nurse - Great to have an individual (Andre) I could speak to throughout. - And weekly meetings with Professor Nutting helpful and informative. - Andre made great efforts to obtain medications for me e.g liquid metformin. - The 4 physical exercise videos were very good. - Mouth exercises were helpful but a Marsden video of all aof them would be clearer. I do have some thoughts about possible improvements: - It would have been helpful at an early stage in treatment to be told about dental surgery requirement, not shortly after operation and two weeks before RT started. This gave me no time therefore for recovery, and building up 10kg weight lost post operation in hospital (St George's). Earlier work would have allowed for more discretionary work to be done as well. - Nor was I told of the importance of building muscle strength until a couple of weeks before surgery. My op was at St G's so this is not a criticism of RMH, but should be told ASAP to every patient facing surgery & RT. Everything happens very fast after diagnosis, so time is critical. - Some of the nutrients I was given were very processed. I wonder if more advice about kinds of foods that are edible for people undergoing head neck radiation could be given? Do you ask feedback from people who have been through this what they found palatable, given our taste distortions? This can be passed on to incoming patients. - Another thing might be asking patient feedback on what we think the most effective oral hygiene treatments were (for me, salt water & bicarbonate of soda). I discovered bicarb online. - Maybe its because everything was on the phone, but telling me to lie flat and lift my head to look at my toes for 60 seconds, was a big mistake after major neck surgery. It really hurt the side of my neck for several days when I didn't need even more pain, and the surgeon confirmed I should not attempt it when i asked him afterwards. - Why don't you prescribe CBD? I noticed an immediate improvement once I started taking it, with tongue ulcers greatly reduced and pain declining. It is incredible that you do not have it. I took it in a pipette under my tongue am & pm. I understand that it is also available in creams. The creams I bought in Holland & Barrett had alcohol so I was advised would sting. I think there are some available which do not have this problem. While the Aloe Vera cream did the job very well, CBD may be good for people where RT affects their skin worse than mine. I wonder if the same care as I received is made available for women undergoing breast cancer RT? My wife felt that she was not being looked after during her 1 week treatment, and was quite distressed by this. She asked to see a nurse and had a meeting a couple of days later at which counselling was proposed. This was not a solution - my impression is that simply a bit of hand holding at the beginning is all that would have been needed. I hope this is helpful, Thank you very much for looking after me so well.

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-06-03 Person 5 5 0

I have just completed 5 days of radiotherapy at The Marsden in Chelsea. My experience there was faultless. There was a slight delay in my treatment on one occasion but I was told about that when I arrived. All the radiographers were kind, thoughtful, and reassuring. They communicated what they would be doing beforehand and were very much concerned with putting me at my ease. Overall I was very impressed and while I would like to make a suggestion on how things could be improved, I'm afraid I can't. It was an excellent service!

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-05-11 Person 5 5 0

From my first consultation up to now I have been looked after in a caring and respectful way. Every step of my treatment was explained to me in a compassionate and clear way. Even during lockdown I have received many phone calls keeping me fully updated

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-05-06 Person 4 5 0

The staff were all very attentive and made sure that I was taken care of quickly and efficiently. I was never left feeling abandoned and all the staff were so friendly. Thank you. The only issue I had was that the pre appointment letter was sent via email and went into junk folder. so I arrived and had to pay. For some reason both credit cards were declined but staff were helpful in finding a solution. It just took a little longer.

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-04-30 Person 5 5 0

The Royal Marsden have been amazing for both treatment and for giving information involving by myself and my wife throughout. Given the current difficult time with the added corona virus situation we were so grateful that my wife was given permission to attend my appointment and treatment as I’m wheelchair bound. We cannot thank the staff enough for the level of care that I received

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-04-27 Person 5 5 0

The care i received was nothing short of exceptional. Over the entire three weeks of my radio therapy treatment, different staff were courteous, kind and attentive, as well as calm, relaxed and considerate. This is all the more remarkable considering the stress and uncertainty they must have been facing as the lockdown had just started at the beginning of my treatment. I was confident that RM was totally on top of the evolving situation long before this which reassured me as I travelled daily for my treatment. I want to particularly thank all of the Carlisle team and also Dr Settertree, who demonstrated professionalism with incredible listening and understanding - which definitely contributed to my recovery!

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-04-25 Person 5 5 0

In these complicated and difficult times, the Chelsea Royal Marsden has coped brilliantly by reorganising and adapting to the stress of working around the risk of Covid 19 infection. The staff, from top to bottom, are superb, well motivated and keen to give patients their time and expertise. Communications with theatre and other staff were exceptional , with everyone explaining necessary actions and procedures, and making sure that you understood. The food was very good and courtesy dominated my treatment and that of other patients around me. The staff made a daunting experience more bearable and manageable.

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-04-21 Person 3 5 0

I think overall the service felt a bit impersonal because of COVID 19 fears / the wearing of masks and staff (understandably) keeping their distance. So the above feedback should be viewed in that context; a smile and warmth from a distance still works. I'm very grateful that the necessary medical staff were turning up for work on the frontline of the COVID 19 pandemic, so my radiotherapy was able to go ahead; so thank you! I think also 5 treatments only for adjuvenant breast cancer radiotherapy is relatively new and - maybe because of that? - I didn't feel prepared at all for the immediate quite significant swelling and tenderness that occurred before the skin reaction. Also the immediate fatigue - before radiotherapy I was back to doing PE with Jo Wicks and running, so it was quite marked - could have been better flagged as a usual side effect before (rather than after) the sessions ended.

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-04-19 Person 5 5 0

i had three days of stereotactic radiotherapy and treated at all times with understanding and sympathy

The Royal Marsden Hospital (Chelsea) 2020-04-12 Person 5 5 0

I had a huge sarcoma removed from my thigh 2 1/2 years ago and to date my mobility remains good, thanks to Dr Strauss and his team.