"Very professional and caring across many…"

I progressed quickly through assessments and examinations following the identification of colon cancer . Reassurance and kindness were always offered together with professional and technical information.

My route was through Endoscopy , the specialist staff and nurses of the Colorectal team , the supervising Multi Disciplinary team , the Surgical Admissions Team , the CT staff , the anaesthetics and theatre teams , the staff of the Intensive Care unit and Hutchings and Allerton Wards and especially my excellent Colorectal Consultant …..

All played a huge part in caring for me during my 5 day stay together with the domestic staff of the hospital.

It all sounds a formidable gathering of skills , and indeed it was , but it was presented in a logical and caring format .

My op , with keyhole surgery , was entirely satisfactory , and my pre op anxieties were sensitively addressed and my short period of in-house convalescence quickly passed . I returned home with guidance on what I could and couldn’t do and a firm admonition on not lifting anything heavier than a bag of sugar for a while but with instructions to return to gentle exercise a.s.a.p .

8 weeks later I am feeling well and hugely grateful to all the many staff at Torbay Hospital who had a helping hand to offer in my recovery .

I have gone into some detail above to try to reassure anyone else who follows my path that they could not wish for kinder and more helpful people .

Thank you Torbay Hospital ….. I am cancer free and with a monitoring programme that will keep an eye on me in the future .

Peter .