"A mixed bag of both good and bad"

My elderly mum was booked in for laser treatment on one eye. The first appointment was cancelled by the hospital and was rebooked for 3 or 4 weeks later. They did ring my mum to check that she was attending, which I thought was a good idea and good service. We didn't have to wait long before Mum was taken through to a small room for a sight test and eye drops. The nurse doing this was brusque and unfriendly. Mum's eye test was done in the same room (partially divided, but actually the same room) as a gentleman, who was reading the chart loudly at exactly the same time as Mum. Mum is rather deaf and very elderly and she was finding it difficult to concentrate on her own test, but neither of us said anything as the nurse seemed unapproachable. All her instructions had an air of impatience. Maybe she was having a bad day, but a pleasant greeting and kindly manner makes such a difference. Half an hour later we were seen by the lady (doctor?) who did Mum's treatment. She was very pleasant and kind and took account of Mum's hearing difficulties (which we always mention straight away). The treatment was quick and went well. I was surprised that we then had to go to the hospital pharmacy and wait half an hour for a bottle of eye drops. It was a bit of a long trek for an elderly disabled lady. There may well be a very good reason that I am unaware of, but I wondered why they could not just have dealt with the bottle of eye drops at the opthamology department. So all in all, it went well and we were happy with Mum's treatment. We were in and out in about one and a half hours, which I thought was acceptable.