Woking Community Hospital 2021-10-25 Person 1 5 0

My cancer spread to my lymph nodes because the lump I reported to the doctor on admission to Woking Community Hospital was not reported to anyone else or recorded in the patient notes. After discharge, I rang the local acute hospital to see where I was on the waiting list. The lump has not been reported and a referral had not been made. As a direct result of not reporting this lump and not referring me to the local acute hospital, my cancer spread further and I needed a much more radical surgery, with the excision of nearly 20 lymph nodes. My ten year survival rate estimate is poor. My prognosis is not great. My complaint was shrugged off as the doctor who admitted me claimed she didn’t remember our conversation. It’s easy to get away with matters when most patients are elderly, deaf, blind and / or confused. The problem in my case was that the discharge from the acute hospital to WCH is done so quickly nobody is available to be your witness. If your relative is admitted, check everything, ask questions and ask to speak to senior staff on at least a weekly basis. Conversations with doctors and social workers should include someone else who can be the patient’s advocate and witness in this facility.