St Bartholomew's Hospital — Attraction in London

The only person nice to me were the two ladies who welcomed me and the nurse who waited with me before the "doctor" called me in. The while experience was traumatic. Lets start with the most important part, for the last 9 moths now I have a horrible breast pain (the left one to be exact), followed by a lump which appeared 6-7 months ago in the centre of the left breast. After my Gp's super bombastic examination, she said it could be cancer and off i went to the breast cancer clinic.The time came, 25th of Feb! Here I go, scared and not sure about anything, terrified but somehow relived, knowing i will finally know, the answer to my misery is coming. I was happy knowing a “doctor” will see me, reinsure me and help in every way she/he can cause it is at the end of the day cancer. Little did I know that my doctor had other plans. Instead of calming voice, she was literally raising her voice. Instead of reinsuring me, she patronised me. Instead of proper body examination she decided to touch me as if i was made of glass and she was afraid i would fall down and break Instead of her listening to my worries and decided to talk over me. Instead of her literally listening to me she decided to only listen to what she wanted to. Let me give you some examples of our conversation (before the examination) D: “ your breast hurt because you eat dairy” Me: “Oh i am allergic, i dont eat dairy” D: ”you do and thats the reason” - while rolling her eyes

D “your breast might hurt because you drink alcohol and caffeine” Me” My dad drinks a lot, hens why i dont drink alcohol” D: “ Its the caffeine” which i dont drink

Me “ My breast hurts for 9 months hens why i went to my GP 2 weeks ago” D : “Your GP scared you, this is why your breast hurts” Me “ NO i said 9 months like 5 times now” D : “Anyway, young women dont have cancer, its rare” Me: “But it happens, I can be the rare one” D: “yeah but no”

The woman was literally a disaster, nothing was done for me. She spoke to me as if I was 15 and she had to babysit me and feed me with nonsense to kill time. While patronising and refusing to let me talk I could see this patronising smile on her face, despite her wearing a face mask (way too small for her face) it wasnt hard to see what was underneath. I was in there for like 4-5 minutes, she was rushing me and i literally couldnt say a full sentence, she rolled her eyes once when i spoke about my dairy allergy and criticised the fact my mother doesnt talk to me about her health issues - as if this was any of her business! A lot happened in those 4 minutes, I left crying and confused. I had no answers, She said she can do an Ultrasound but only for my peace of mind if i am “Like that” - what ever that means but reinsured me she wont be looking at the results. What's the damn point then? Plus I was advised by my friend who is a womens health Doctor and a surgeon who treats cancers for women etc that ultrasound wont detect cancer based on pain etc. Only biopsy, MRI and momogram but MRI is the best way to see cancer at either early or late stage. Well, she declined all and reinsured me (the best part) that despite my grandmother and my mother having breast cancer that its NOT relevant and its simply nothing to worry about - wow, so smart isnt she? Like, I almost believed that i am a drunk addict who loves eating cheese, she is that good. NOT The whole experience was traumatising and i now understand why so many women die of cancer in the UK. The health system is a joke, really sad true, no jokes about that. I still have no answers which is why i will be bombarding my GP with calls tomorrow and demand biopsy or MRI based on her referral. Doctor wannabe used the fact i was vulnerable and saw an opening and decided to treat...

Up until Tuesday 17th March 2020, I had never been to Barts Hospital or for that matter, to any other Hospital as an urgent critical in-patient. But talk about saving the best till last?

I had very good reason on this fateful St Patrick's day ('Paddy's' Day on 17th March 2020), when I was driven blue lighted by an ambulance (again, another first for me) to St Barthomlew's Hospital. Thank God they took me to St Barts hospital!!!

The care I received in the middle of what was, and continue to be a Covid-19 pandemic was nothing short of incredible and outstanding! The care that I received was first class, top notch care with every person that I encountered - starting with the paramedics who responded to me at home. I have never been able to to find them to thank them, but I say Thank You for their initial care of me!!!

St Barts hospital managed to patch me up, and within 8 days, they had implanted me with a bionic device inserted under the skin in my chest area, after which I was sent home, from where I steadily recuperated very well. How incredible?

I have nothing but a great heartfelt thanks and admiration for all those who treated and cared for me. And the thanks are especially for all our healthcare and medical professionals up and down the country - from the cleaners, healthcare assistants, porters, nurses, doctors, radiologists, phlebotomists, pharmacists, etc, etc - the list is endless.

Each and everyone of them was incredible, amazing and fantastic!! I consider myself to be very lucky to be still here and alive in the first place, writing this review or rather, to be writing this Thank You note to them!

Please let us all, support, cherish and respect these people who have dedicated and devoted their lives to our care, and let us be supportive of them, especially during the pandemic and always.

Here is to wishing all Healthcare and Medical Professionals, all the very best.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU NHS STAFF, WHEREVER YOU ARE, UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY!!!

Please continue to show your gratitude and support for those who work in the NHS.

Do please LIKE this review, as a recognition to them. For myself, I will forever be grateful to them! Thank you for sparing your time to read this review!...

Unfortunately I just cannot share any positive feedback about St Bart's Hospital. This is by far the worst place I've been treated at. Extremely disorganised and unprofessional. The waiting times are criminal - they stole 7 precious months from me, when I could have been treated, instead of that I was places on a waiting list due to a mistake they made. 7 months!!! They are unfortunately understaffed and the patient's experience is neglected to the lowest possible point. One has to chase for updates and appointments all the time. They simply just don't answer the phone or respond to emails. A very small example, which I can share is that they asked me to do examinations, some of which quite invasive, then never bothered to check past records and called me to asked me to do the exact same examination, not realising that I have already done that months ago. This happened on multiple occasions. When one trusts a hospital with their health, you expect them to at least take one's case seriously and do their due diligence, spending a few minutes reviewing your case before contacting you. I had experienced one doctor that spoke to me in such disrespectful way, mocking my questions and discussing my condition with an apprentice in front of me, without any sign of empathy that I am there. I will never forget how this person made me feel during one of my most vulnerable moments. Ahead of a procedure I was placed to wait in the staff's cloak rooms due to lack of waiting rooms for patients (this is when I'm paying for private treatment). I've been through so much with them in the past two years that I just had enough and switched to a different hospital. I feel sorry for the NHS and I appreciate that the last few years have been challenging, but no patient deserves to be treated this way, ever! I would never recommend St Bart's to anyone. They used to be a respectable hospital, and it's a shame that they are in a...