Getting scan results is the scariest thing that cancer patients have to endure. The information on the radiologist’s report effectively says how long they have left to live, without ever explicitly saying such a thing. If the images from the scan show that the tumours have been wiped out by treatment then that’s obviously fantastic news. The patient can rejoice and go back to living as normal a life as possible.
If they show the treatment is working and the tumours are shrinking then that is also great news. But if they show the tumours aren’t responding to the treatment and they are spreading then that is horrific. Hopefully at that point something else can be done, a different treatment can be tried.
And whether someone is being told they are going to live, or will die far sooner than they ever imagined, it’s the kind of thing you would want to be told face to face instead of on the phone.
My so-called “world leading” cancer hospital agrees, and I’ve always been told that scan results will be discussed in an appointment in person.
So, as a lifer who is very likely to die of my incurable bowel cancer, I can’t work out why they don’t practice what they preach. And instead they seem to be hiding. I’m serious.
Knowing that I was going to receive results from my CT and MRI scans I requested my fortnightly appointment with my medical team be in person rather than on the phone.
They agreed and I was pleased. But then, approximately three hours before the appointment was due to take place, it was changed to a consultation on the phone.
Not only was it changed, it was changed to being with a staff member who didn’t even know that I’d had scans so wasn’t fully equipped to discuss their findings.
I really hope someone in the medical team had read through the radiology report beforehand. Imagine if I’d received a terminal diagnosis on the phone.
My so called “world leading” cancer hospital does phone appointments because they are supposedly more convenient for patients. This may be true when a patient isn’t already in the hospital for something else.
But on scan results day I was there for blood tests which took place in a room approximately 20m away from where the nurse called me for my phone appointment.
Yes, despite being in the hospital, the best chance of having any kind of face to face interaction is by bumping into the nurse while waiting for the lift.
And, to add to the craziness of the NHS, the phone signal at the hospital isn’t fantastic so to have my phone appointment I had to leave the hospital and sit outside. This meant I was almost late for my blood test because the names are announced on a screen inside the building.
With almost two years of cancer treatment under my belt I’m slowly getting used to how a lot of things in hospitals don’t make sense.
One thing that definitely doesn’t make sense is why medical teams are so bad at recognising the mental and emotional impacts of cancer.
This is especially true when it comes to scan results. Instead of medical professionals who don’t even know when a patient has had scans, they should all be equipped to not only discuss the results but to help them cope with the impact this will have on their life.
This is why I’m leading the Daily Express’s Cancer Care campaign to ensure all cancer patients have access to mental health support both during and after treatment.