"5 years so far of great care"

Anything else?

I have been seeing the doctor and the team at St Marks for 5 years now and have had one colonoscopy during that time. The team are lovely. I've come to know the nurses, receptionists at the outpatient department very well. They are usually busy - I know to try to get an early appointment at the start of a clinic or I can be waiting a long time. The longest I've had to wait was 3 hours. When getting an early appointment I can be seen and out in 45 minutes! I agree with another reviewer that unlike in other hospitals and departments there is no communication on wait times, no white board explaining what clinics are in progress and the current wait time. However I have found that approaching a nurse respectfully they will usually tell you how many are in front of you and if the consultant or registrar has been late or called away for an urgent case which sometimes happens. The inflammatory bowel specialist nurse team are so lovely, so caring they are almost like surrogate aunts to me. They will always call me back and have arranged faxing blood tests to my GP, prescription requests to my GP, have booked urgent appointments to the clinic within a week for me, discussed medications and complementary medications, have forwarded requests to the department pharmacist when I was debating breast feeding my baby whilst on medication and so much more! This service is brilliant and worth every penny. Whenever I have had a procedure, no matter how small, and even though my consultant is female, a nurse comes in to put me at ease. During my colonoscopy I was looked after by the same nurse throughout from coming in to recovery, despite not requiring sedation (I was nursing and the meds could have entered my milk and I'm ok with this stuff now after 15 years of IBD!). I am also impressed with the research going on at St Marks and have been able to enter one clinical study. It gives me hope for my illness in the long term and it is great to know the consultants and registrars are involved in looking for the best treatments and options for my care. Apart from the waiting this is like a private hospital level of care and I am glad to be treated at St Marks.