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Timely access to test results

Posted By MrFraggle

"Timely access to test results"

About: Western General Hospital / Oncology

(as a service user),

Four months ago I posted a story here praising the cancer centre at the Western General for the vastly improved information patients are now provided with.

But where Lothian NHS fail in my experience is making sure that patients have access to all test results in a timely fashion. This does not happen and it can be quite an involved process to get this information as I have found out over the past six months or so. 

I had a biopsy in August 2021 and managed to get a copy through my GP in January 2022 which made for some interesting reading and I would have liked to have had this before I met the oncologist. 

MRI in September 2021 still not got the results on that.

CT Scan December 2021 and still await those results.

Why is this information not sent to the patient as soon as it is ready, of course it would need to be sent via snail mail given so few NHS Lothians departments have access to the Patient e-Communication system.

This information is important to patients as it allows us to make informed decisions on treatment and given we all have access to Google can translate the medical jargon very easily to make these reports perfectly understandable.

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Responses

Response from Murdina MacDonald, Lead Cancer Nurse, Cancer Services, NHS Fife 3 years ago
Murdina MacDonald
Lead Cancer Nurse, Cancer Services,
NHS Fife

Submitted on 10/02/2022 at 11:25
Published on Care Opinion at 11:32

Dear MrFraggle

Thank you for taking the time to share with us your more recent experience on CareOpinion. I am sorry to learn that you are not receiving the results of your investigations in a timely manner. I recognise that patients who receive good information,can be better prepared to become involved in decision making about their care.

I would like to invite you to reach out to me directly. You can reach me at murdina.macdonald@nhs.scot. Further information would be helpful to review the delays you experienced in more detail. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Murdina

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by MrFraggle (a service user)

Thank you for your offer but the reason I use this site is its anonymity and contacting you directly will remove that.

I will give things to the end of the week to receive the results from either the specialist nurse or the ENT consultant, both of whom I contacted in early January, then make an official complaint to NHS Lothian Patient Experience Team, but given that I have little confidence in this department, I will need to see what other options are open to me.

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