A reminder of why it matters

Following on my recent time in ED reception I have just had the privilege of spending a couple of hours in our Chemotherapy Unit at East Surrey Hospital.   

I was nervous when I thought about going because I wasn’t really sure what I would see and how I would feel about it.    Two hours later I came away feeling both impressed and proud of not only what we are doing but by the patients themselves.  

Its always good to spend time talking to colleagues in their own environment as they usually have so much good to say as well as sharing some ideas which hopefully I can help bring to reality.   Today was no exception and I had a great explanation of how the unit runs from the manager and heard some fantastic ideas about how the unit could be easily improved – which I’ll come back to later.

Following the introduction I was invited by one of our patients and their partner to watch them having their chemo treatment.   As well as allowing me to talk to them very openly about the treatment they also talked to me about the chemotherapy unit and the hospital as a whole.   Once again I was reminded of how what we do and how we do it is so important to so many people. 

Knowing this makes it even more important to me that we all try our hardest to do it in the best possible way and I saw this being done consistently in the chemotherapy unit and is another area of the Trust that we should be really proud of.    There was also a real tangible sense of “family” in the unit – I can’t really describe it very well but you really felt that everyone was sharing a common purpose.  

As with my time in A&E I learnt so much that I will be able to put into good use and I promised that I would help with three things; so I will make that pledge publicly.   They were :

• Dedicated chemotherapy parking slots using the space just outside the unit

• Help with sorting out some of the data entry duplication 

• A re-design and rebuild of the entrance to the department so we can add another toilet.

I owe it to them to make sure this happens so watch this space.