Radiotherapy

I have a job interview tomorrow in the radiotherapy dept of my local hospital.  its for the admin and reception side of things.

i am keen to get feedback (if i can) from patients as i will be dealing with many of them if i get the job (fingers crossed.)

what things made your experiences easier?  did you find being able to phone not just 9-5 useful.  were there plenty of appropriate facilites available to you?  do you have any suggestions that could improve your local radiotherapy service?

sorry to ask so many questions!  if you have anything else to add, please do or if you want to email off forum, please also do so!

ta

tweety

I had to take my daughter with me every day for 5 weeks and it helped that there was always tthings for her to play with, and the fact that the nurses allowed her to watch me on the screen, as she was only 3.

Try DIPEX - it's lots of people talking about their experience of illness. There's a lot about cancer which may help you.

very interesting site duck; thanks for the link.  there are some interesting accounts of radiotherapy experiences from patients.

runnersbeen, that's a very good point about things for the little ones to play with.  i had to go for a blood test at said local hospital on monday and there were no things for kids to play with and mini tweety started to throw one of her tantrums (we are currently awaiting a possible diagnosis of ASD for her) and i had to take her to the paeds outpatients afterwards so she could play and calm down.  she did sit on one of the phlebotomists' laps and watched while i had my blood taken.

btw duck, mini's appt with child psychiatry has come through for two weeks today.  not long to wait, thank goodness.

I had 6 weeks worth in 2006

what things made your experiences easier?

the staff - always very pleasant even when there were problems and backlogs due to machine problems

did you find being able to phone not just 9-5 useful.

never needed to use this service

were there plenty of appropriate facilites available to you?

define appropriate. didn't bother me though as I was usually in and out quickly (bar the odd delay - see above). there was a cafe which was useful if you had a long wait but I only used this about 3/4 times.

do you have any suggestions that could improve your local radiotherapy service?

yes - make it more local!! I had a 60-90 min drive each way to mine depeding on time of appt - many had to travel further. what joy this was after a few weeks..... BUT - I appreciate that due to the sheer costs of these services they can never be truly local more's the pity. I think the travel issue is likely to be the biggest (non-clinical) grumble you'll have if you get the job.


good luck with the interview - it's a very valuable service and did the job for me

Def agree about more local or maybe mobile?  Prob not very practical. I also had to drive 50 mins each way every day for what was a 5 min treatment.  Very tiring on top of everything else.

thank you all for your feedback.  interview went well and fingers crossed.

i agree with you both about the location of radiotherapy services.  my aunt had to travel nearly two hours a day for six weeks for her.  my local hospital is a fairly new one following the merging of two older ones so its probably less local for some people but it is a bit more central.

congrats to both of you on your recoveries.

thank you all for your feedback.  interview went well and fingers crossed.

i agree with you both about the location of radiotherapy services.  my aunt had to travel nearly two hours a day for six weeks for her.  my local hospital is a fairly new one following the merging of two older ones so its probably less local for some people but it is a bit more central.

congrats to both of you on your recoveries.

oops, double post.