My Dad's treatment start has just been pushed back and I feel so frustrated for him.
Just getting to this point has been challenging. He had a cancer diagnosis c 6 years ago, had surgery and treatment which wasn't too bad, and was regularly monitored. He turned up when asked, and when, a little while ago, he realised he'd lost some weight without trying, he turned up urgently at the GP's door.
His GP has been great, set wheels in motion quickly, got him seen by his original service within 10 days, and has been following the story for and with him. The issues and frustrations have been that over the past couple of months he has been seen in different clinics/services across 3 Trusts, in 5 different hospitals, with staff who although individually have (mostly) been good, have often little idea on what's going on elsewhere. Were it not for the GP/me and family, some information would have been missed by the eventual care team as he has finally got diagnosis of secondary cancer in at least two sites (the jury are still out on a third).
But the diagnosis was >4 weeks ago. He's met the oncologist and discussed a broad treatment plan, he's had more tests to refine it. First pre-treatment blood test was tomorrow, chemo/immunotherapies to finally start Friday. Except they aren't now. Call today and they forgot to do a particular blood test, so treatment off and no indication of when it will now be scheduled in.
Note also the treatment was due to kick off at a 6th different hospital, with follow-up treatments to be carried out at a 7th!
My Dad is the most calm and "what will be will be" sort of person, but this has been hugely tested by poor communication across the systems looking after him, terrible information about the myriad appointments he's had ("I just get a text, it never says what it is, just where to go and time. I just turn up"), and now the delays.
I'm more clued up on the way that the system works than average, but even I have been shocked by how this has gone. These are all good people, trying to do the right thing, but so stretched that even basic information/communication seems to be going by the wayside. Exacerbated by a ridiculously complex local system which just can't be taking patient views into account - no-one would vote for 7 different hospitals with no shared information, over a c.30sqmile footprint as a good patient journey, no-one.
Fingers crossed this latest delay won't be long, because I'm really starting to worry about the impact this is having on progress.
