Care Opinion

I was not given any information about the condition

Posted By Armies754

"I was not given any information about the condition"

About: Crosshouse Hospital / Ophthalmology

(as the patient),

I recently had an appointment at the Crosshouse Hospital Eye Clinic where the waiting time was very good. I had heard stories of having to wait for hours so I was pleased that I was only waiting for 10 minutes.

However, I was a bit disappointed with what happened next. During the consultation I was diagnosed with glaucoma, given eye drops and told I would have to use them for life. I was told I needed to make arrangements with my doctor for further prescriptions – I had no problem with this.

After this I was just left to go home. I was not given any information about the condition, no leaflets no advice about whether the condition would get better / worse, nothing at all.

I guess in this day of the internet people can look things up, I don’t use the internet so have been left with no information.

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Responses

Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 10 years ago
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 30/06/2014 at 17:25
Published on Care Opinion at 21:35

picture of Eunice Goodwin

Dear Armies754,

I would like to say how sorry I am that you were diagnosed with glaucoma and left without the information to help you understand the condition. It is often the ‘fear of the unknown’ that worries us more than the condition itself.

You are not alone, many people do not use the internet and we must not assume that everyone does. I would have thought you should have had a verbal explanation and some supporting information leaflet to explain things for both your diagnosis and any future implications. I will contact the team and ask if there is a leaflet available and what standard practice is.

In the meantime, you could make an appointment with your Practice Nurse or an Optician to discuss glaucoma to set your mind at ease. If you have all your questions written down before hand, then you should come out with all the information you needed.

I hope this is helpful and you are getting on well with the drops, I believe it can take a wee bit of getting used to.

Kind regards,

Eunice

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Response from Eunice Goodwin, Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team, NHS Ayrshire and Arran 10 years ago
Eunice Goodwin
Patient Feedback Manager for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Quality Improvement and Governance Team,
NHS Ayrshire and Arran

I respond initially to most of the posts and ensure they are passed to the appropriate team whether they are compliments, observations or grumbles. It is important to make sure all issues are addressed and I try to encourage that to happen for all the posts as required.

Submitted on 02/07/2014 at 11:45
Published on Care Opinion at 14:30

picture of Eunice Goodwin

Dear Armies754,

I have been in touch with the senior manager of the service and I have been assured that we usually do provide the information and support required at the clinic on diagnosis. I am sorry this did not happen in your case. If you would like to email me your phone number to my personal email address at Eunice.Goodwin@aapct.scot.nhs.uk we will arrange for one of the eye nurses to give you a call to explain your condition in more detail and answer any of your questions. We will also mention this to the team to prevent other patients leaving the clinic without adequate information on their diagnosis. Thank you again for bringing this to our attention,

Kind regards,

Eunice

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
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