"Sometimes it's the simple things"

My in-law has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Listening to them, as a proud and sensitive Aboriginal person, speak about their experience to me has been a real eye-opener. 

They were sent from another hospital to Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) when they presented with the symptoms. 

The first distressing experience for them was waiting in the triage area at RPH. I believe they found it very upsetting watching patients being wheeled in from Ambulances behind the triage desk. My in-law doesn't understand why there isn't a screen in place so people who are already feeling sick and upset don't have to see other patients who often are very unwell. They said this made them very sad and was crying for them. 

The other distressing incident was when the doctors were doing their rounds. My in-law was in a shared room with 4 other patients. The curtains were closed around each bed when the doctors visited but they said, all the doctors were speaking so loudly to the patients that everyone could hear everyone else's business. I believe the other patients were all receiving bad news and my in-law felt very sad and was crying for them but also was scared their news would be bad as well. 

When the doctors' eventually got to my in-law, they made them stop. My in-law said they did not want them to shout but to speak softly and asked the main doctor to sit on the bed and speak softly. I believe then explained they didn't want all the other patients in the room to feel bad about the news.
The doctor was kind and listened to the request and sat next to my in-law and spoke softly about the diagnosis, which was not good news.

It was lovely to hear the doctor listened to my in-law. The next day when the doctors did their round, they approached and went to speak standing next to the bed like before. So my in-law put their finger to their lips and patted the bed. The doctor remembered the request from yesterday and sat next to my in-law and spoke softly. 

I believe this is all that most patients want. The medical care by the hospital was fantastic in my opinion and I think we would all like our doctors to sit next to us and speak softly.