"Our experience at The Royal Hospital for Women"

My 29-year-old daughter was bought to the RHW for gynaecological surgery. She was operated on for 9 hours to remove multiple cancers from her abdomen.

This was a truly horrendous experience for her (and for me and my other daughter). We have been through the cancer journey before as a family - my husband died of bladder cancer in 2018.

The treatment and care in both cases was exceptional from all the staff involved. However, this time at RHW I was so impressed with two things that made the experience different and so much more manageable:

1. Having Cath, the senior nurse liaison. Her ability to answer questions, make suggestions and then arrange for things to happen by coordinating with doctors, auxiliary staff and nurses with such efficiency was extraordinary.

2. The doctors, led by Dr King, worked in a multi-disciplinary team (including Dr Cameron and Dr Daniel) and were different in their approach to the patient and the family.  They explained everything patiently. They listened to us and made it clear the patient was the one with the power and that what she thought and wanted mattered. They responded to her very quickly. Added to this was the daily care given by Dr Harry. This made such a difference to my daughter, as she was able to feel more in control and less frightened.

3. Also, the nurses were all brilliant but that’s not new.

I believe we are so privileged in Australia to have such a good health system and to have such amazing people working for it.

Thank you all

marspf86