"Highly professional and caring radiotherapy team"

Following surgery and chemotherapy for breast cancer, I attended Ninewells radiotherapy unit for a planning scan and treatment during August/September 2024.

I received good instructions on how to find the reception (it is quite a twisty windy corridor) and the signage always reassured I was heading the right way.

The team from the first were incredibly informative and friendly - immediately removing any anxiety I had about the treatment. From the start I felt in safe, friendly, highly professional and very caring hands. It's when things go wrong you can really see how well a team functions and over the course of my treatment things did.

I was advised very quickly on any anticipated delay (usually shorter than I'd expected - so expectations are well managed),  and when scanners didn't cooperate I always felt informed and in control - which is so important to me as a cancer patient. Moving around the unit I was often recognised by staff not necessarily treating me daily - this was a kind touch.

Staff are dealing with so many different patients but to remember to smile and say hello when passing made the whole unit a less daunting place to be. The team were always happy to share their knowledge. This made the equipment less intimidating and something to be curious about. For somewhere so busy there is a general calm.

The only frustrations ever seem to come from the problems with getting parked at Ninewells - outside the team's control of course. Perhaps the management could consider parking permits for patients - some sort of temporary blue badge that would RT/Chemo/Oncology patients to use the blue badge spaces - at times in my treatment I have felt less 'able' than some benefiting from those permits permanently. RT patients in particular definitely come and go at regular intervals so would be freeing up those spaces fairly quickly.