"Ross is a very pleasant and welcoming ..."

What I liked

Ross is a very pleasant and welcoming hospital offering a variety of clinics. The pain management course is an excellent vehicle for teaching patients with chronic pain how to manage their pain and lives better. It is unfortunate that by buying in the pain services from Gloucestershire the convenience of the whole county is not well served. It makes a good service almost inaccessible to those of us who live on the northern border and have a lengthy journey. I already have to travel to Cheltenham for Oncology services and it seems that the rural northern PCT patient has more than their fair share of excessive mileage. Pain services should be made more accessible to all PCT members. However good the service may be, those suffering pain may well decide that the problems of a lengthy journey make these services inaccessible.

What could be improved

Ross Hospital is not a good location for the pain management course. It is 47 miles from where I live in N. Herefordshire and to undertake this journey twice a week is not good for a patient suffering chronic pain. The hospital is poorly signposted in Ross and once lost in the town centre there is no signposting at all. It would seem that to have this course only at Ross seriously disadvantages patients such as myself who are finding the journey just too difficult. I leave home at 8.15am and return at 2.45pm. I spend a total of 3.5 hours travelling. I can only assume that the course is organised to facilitate the journey for the staff. I think that one course a year should go to each of the other community hospitals within the PCT or that they should all be moved to Hereford. The journey is a "killer" for the elderly suffering chronic pain and I suspect that many may be forced to turn down a place or fail to complete the course.