I remember being called by one of the nurses, going into this little office, and they obviously told me, you know, you needed to get changed and put the lovely NHS gown on, as you do. And the consultant will be in to see me. He literally walked in, said hello, asked me when my last period was, and then that was it. I was then sort of sat in the chair having it done.

At that point I didn’t really know what to expect, you know he didn’t ask me any questions. He didn’t tell me what he was doing, so I just was very nervous, and just didn’t have a clue really as to what he was doing.

Was there a nurse as well?

I had two nurses. But even they didn’t really say a great deal. They were just really repeating what he was, you know, telling me to do. So at no point really did he say anything.

I think the problem is, when you’ve a leaflet, they do say that they tend, if they can, they will do the treatment as well there and then. So it’s over and done with. And he did the colposcopy, and then told me to go and get changed and he’d come and see me. He’d come in, and I literally sat down, and got changed and I just got a leaflet thrown in my hand telling me about the LLETZ treatment, and he went to walk off.

Did he say anything while he was doing the colposcopy, that what he can see?

No. He said nothing. He said absolutely nothing to me.

So you didn’t know at this appointment that you had CIN 3?

No, I knew nothing. It wasn’t until he went to walk off that I actually thought, “Well you know, hang on a minute. I’ve got a couple of questions. One, what is it?” He just went, “Oh it’s CIN3.” Then still went to walk off.

So you had no time to ask any…?

No, I had no time to ask any questions whatsoever.

Did you have any time to ask these questions to the nurses?

No, she just showed me the way back to the waiting room, and went off again.