A consultant from the Beatson Oncology Centre, who visits Forth Valley Royal Hospital twice a week for an outreach clinic, has been highlighted as a healthcare heroine. The accolade for Dr Judith Fraser appeared in the Times newspaper earlier this year to coincide with International Women’s Day and was penned by columnist Melanie Reid. She wrote:
“My heroines are the millions of ordinarily extraordinary women who make the world go round every day. Theirs is the labour, pragmatism and dedication that counts. So I nominate my NHS oncologist, a brilliantly knowledgeable woman whose day job is prolonging people’s lives.
“Hundreds of cancer sufferers feel the same. She is met with our tense doomy faces every week and we hang on to her every word for hope and for our futures. Consider the package of hard and soft skills needed to do her job – communication, compassion, science, pharmacy, statistical and risk analysis (because all that and then tears and then questions like what does a 5% uplift in life expectancy from this drug do, if 3%is already the universal baseline?)
“Top that I say. Top that.”
Melanie Reid is an award-winning journalist for the Times newspaper. Having broken her neck and back in a riding accident in 2010, she writes her Spinal Column in the Times Magazine every week. She has also recently undergone cancer treatment.
