"Radiotherapy service is good, referral was a struggle"

I give 100% marks to the Radiotherapy Dept here at Ninewells. Everything is now working well. My diagnosis was 7 years ago and it is now being monitored fine. I had an MRI in Aberdeen and then came down to live in Tayside when I saw a GP who told me about my PSA level. I didn’t see an oncologist until I had a PSA of 10, and it took me 3 weeks to see a nurse. When I hit a PSA of 10 they suddenly said they should do something about it! In my opinion that was too late. I wish they had shown me a picture of the scans etc because I am a scientist and I would have understood them. I have never been asked once if there was any family history of prostrate cancer.

My face cancer will be another day surgery and if it had been nipped in the bud it would have been a 2 minute job. Cost implication is great here. The system is highly inefficient.

In my opinion we now need a fundamental re-think of the repair strategy in the NHS for older people. There is a big change needed and the NHS must address this.

I have absolutely no issues with Ninewells. They are doing good work here - the problem is with the whole referral system. You never get the same doctor twice and you are not able to phone a consultant for advice.

The system and technology works well in Radiotherapy. It is first class. I can’t think of any improvements that could be made except for the toilets - they could certainly do with a refurb, especially the floor. Car parking is chaotic, but the Maggi Centre comes in very useful here if necessary.

Another issue I could mention is that my appointment letters come by second class mail and one of them recently took 2.5 weeks to arrive - they should take one week. I think these letters should be sent out first class because they are so important to people. If you miss an appointment it costs the NHS so I reckon it is worth spending a bit extra each time on postage. A reminder by text or email would also be good.