"Emergency Treatment for Retinal tear"

On 30th September I was referred by my optician to the clinic at Essex County Hospital for emergency treatment as a tear in the retina of my left eye was apparent. I arrived a little before 5pm and saw various healthcare professionals, in and out of rooms and waiting here and there along with several other people taking turns; at all times the staff were polite and attentive and explained what they were about to do to facilitate my treatment. The atmosphere amongst the team was most friendly and co-operation was the order of the day, which really surprised me as the Colchester Trust has had somewhat negative publicity of late.

There was something of a wait but I was grateful to be told that your specialist had every intention of completing the Argon Laser treatment there and then once they had completed their current task. It seemed obvious to me that we were all being seen by the various staff progressively in order to use the time available most wisely and to get the maximum number of patients seen, personally I am very grateful that my treatment completed I was able to go home at 7.15 pm confident that the sight of my left eye had been most likely saved.

I am informed I will need to attend a follow up appointment in some 8 weeks or so and have made a mental note to bring a book to read, allocate the whole afternoon and try to be a patient, patient.

Thank you all for making bearable what might have been a rather scary experience,