"Blind patients"

My Father was admitted to Pilgrims hospital as an emergency patient and received excellent care from all the staff on ward 8A.

We owe a huge big thank you to your excellent clinical staff, who without doubt saved my Fathers life.

However, I would like to mention that as my father, recovered and started to regain his independence, needed to be considered a little differently from other patients.

My Father is a person who is blind and therefor is not able to see who is approaching the bedside and/ or who is talking to him. This consideration of announcing who they were and what they were doing would have helped his understanding and feelings of isolation and confusion greatly.

The food was always hot and a very good standard, explanation of the plate would have greatly helped. Meal times for a blind person can be especially challenging as often staff did not and do not understand how difficult it is to be presented with a plate of food that you are unable to see.