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Ophthalmology

Story from nhs.uk

"Ophthalmology"

About: Queen Victoria Hospital (East Grinstead)

Waiting in the clinic for four hours each time when you have bad eyes is a nightmare. You're told to arrive at a specific time along with everyone else, sometimes there aren't enough seats. Kids are also prioritised so no matter what time you arrive, their appt time can be two hours after yours & they'll be seen first. Surely a more efficient way of this would be to give all kids early appt times so others are not delayed unnecessarily & left waiting hours. When you have a problem in between appts you get advice from the nurses on the phone who speak with the doctors. The problem overall is there's no consistency speaking to/seeing different people all the time. You feel like your left at home to suffer, especially when you can't get an earlier appt. You'd feel you were better looked after if you dealt with the same person instead of repeating yourself to others. The good news is, when you eventually get in the room, the consultants are lovely!

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Responses

Response from Queen Victoria Hospital (East Grinstead) 7 years ago
Queen Victoria Hospital (East Grinstead)

Submitted on 01/09/2016 at 12:35
Published on nhs.uk on 02/09/2016 at 02:31

Dear Anonymous

I am sorry to hear about your experience. We aim to ensure patients have a smooth transition during their appointment in the eye clinic. Although there are specific children's clinic, the consultants that see children also see adults in between whilst the child is undergoing other tests. Children do take priority as we try to avoid them becoming agitated and uncooperative.

As you have pointed out there is not always enough seating for patients and their relatives/carers and we are currently reviewing this area to ascertain whether we can expand the space in the eye clinic.

The emergency eye telephone consultation (SOS) that is in place means that the patient will initially speak to one of the senior nurses who will triage the patients symptoms and offer clinical advice. If the patients concern is complex then this will be passed to a doctor who will call the patient to ascertain their symptoms and condition. If clinically required patients are offered the earliest appointment for review. I am sorry if you have found any aspect of this service less than satisfactory and I would be happy to look into this in more detail for you and see whether there are improvements that can be made to the SOS service. You can contact me at pals@qvh.nhs.uk.

On a positive note we are pleased to read that you are happy with the service and treatment provided by the clinicians.

Once again thank you for giving us your feedback.

Kind regards

Nicolle Ferguson, Patient Experience Manager

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