"Follow up to short stay in hospital."

The consultant dealing with my case, ordered various tests I. e. CT scan, Endoscopy.

I was given a 3-month follow-up appointment, by which I had to assume that the tests were negative. It would have been nice to have known before waiting all that time, which caused great anxiety.

At the follow-up appointment, the consultant merely reported that the tests results hadn't shown anything. he gestured that that was the end of the appointment, I must have been in the room for all of five minutes!

I had to stand my ground to inform him that I was experiencing continued weight loss and was concerned. It was only at this point that the consultant decided to look through my notes and eventually order 3 more tests.

One of these tests was a chest xray, when I asked why, he merely said, 'well as you are a smoker, you might have cancer or something. ' I found this comment to be unhelpful, nonchalant and unnecessary.

Three weeks later I have had no contact. I have just telephoned my GP's surgery to find out if they had heard anything about the results and was told they had been sent back to Gastroenterology. I was advised to ring the Gastroenterologists' secretary to find out.

Is it any wonder that the NHS receives a bad press on occasions? I was treated with complete indifference.