The Royal Marsden Hospital (Sutton) 2021-05-04 Person 4 5 0

As has almost always been my experience at this hospital, there was an adequate number of staff and they were skilled and dedicated. See next box for details of a problem that arose.

I was in the ward for radionuclide treatment (PRRT). I arrived earlier on Tuesday morning, the treatment was a few hours later, and I was due to be discharged around mid-afternoon the next day (Wednesday). There were no complications except that I was found to need potassium supplement tablets to be prescribed as part of my discharge medication. This need was known on the Tuesday and the necessary medical decision had been taken. There were only two other medicines that I needed to take home with me and they are routine after PRRT. A specialist nurse anticipated that I might be ready to leave between 2 and 3 p.m. on Wednesday and I asked my wife to get to the hospital to pick me up at 2.30. I was however kept waiting until after 6.30. This was because the medication from the pharmacy did not arrive until well after 5 p.m. It then had to be formally approved by a doctor but all the doctors who had been looking after me had gone home by then. The on-call doctor dealt with the matter as soon as he could but was busy for a time with a sick patient. I do not feel that the length of this delay of 4 hours, particularly for me wife, was acceptable or necessary. My wife was sitting in the car in the car park for most of the time. Around 4.30 she did go to Maggie's Centre, where a volunteer was friendly and helpful, but that closed at 5 p.m. and she had to go back to the car.