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Maidstone Hospital 2024-08-28 Person 5 5 0

I’m compelled to write this positive review of Maidstone hospital on behalf of my neighbour, Jeremiah, who does not use the Internet. Jeremiah was diagnosed with stage four cancer four and a half years ago. It has evolved as cancers do, and since first diagnosis it has been treated generally with great success, with multiple procedures undertaken with the greatest care and diligence by various NHS hospitals, specialist surgeons and other staff. Over this time I have chatted to Jeremiah over the fence at least once a week and I have been struck by his incredible tenacity as he has undergone operations, chemotherapy, pains and the multiple other features and stages of this awful disease. Every hospital he has attended has been excellent, he says. And there have been individuals such as his consultant surgeon whose professionalism and knowledge have assured him through the worst periods. But never have I seen Jeremiah show such reverence as he has shown the last few weeks regarding Maidstone hospital. He was picked up and driven in an ambulance during the five-week treatment process, which finished last week. And he was bowled over with the care and professionalism of Maidstone hospital’s staff. He says that on entering the building for the first time to undergo radiotherapy for the first time, everyone from the reception staff to the nurses made him feel relaxed and reassured. On one occasion he had an anxiety attack in the waiting room. The receptionist spotted this and immediately crossed to where he was sitting to placate him. “There were two girls on the front desk and they were absolutely marvellous and remarkably calm,” he says. “I was sitting feet away from them on day nine when it suddenly hit me what was happening. I was feeling suddenly very despondent and they picked it up and came over to talk to me. A reassuring chat, a quick hug, and I was completely back at ease.” As someone who needed patent transport services, he tells me g4s did “a magnificent job” transporting him to and from the hospital – punctual, efficient and impeccably polite every time he was collected and then taken back home after each radiography session. They fulfilled their responsibilities impeccably, he says, and he described them, along with all the hospital administrative and medical staff, as “absolutely brilliant people”. And the radiographers? “They made a picnic out of what for me was a daunting process. There was no fear. After day one, I went into the hospital every day happy, fearing nothing. And every department speaks to each other. When the reception was unattended for a couple of minutes one of the girls from g4s jumped across and stepped in,” he says. Jeremiah had his last radiography session at Maidstone last Friday, when I visited him to see how he was. He was beaming: happy, and delighted with the way he had been looked after. This was altogether in another league from the generally positive feedback he’d shown for all the treatment he has received at other hospitals in London and Kent. After hearing such consistently positive feedback regarding Maidstone hospital, I suggested to Jeremiah that I write and post a review on his behalf. He told me he’d love his appreciation to be shown.