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Lack of communication is insensitive

Posted By Sunny246

"Lack of communication is insensitive"

About: Diabetes / Diabetic Eye Screening

(as a service user),

I attended Strathmore Diabetic Clinic to have photographs of the backs of my eyes taken.  The next day I received an appointment for the Eye Clinic, ward 25, with a leaflet about laser treatment. 

I was totally shocked- I phoned the ward and was told I was to have laser treatment.  The nurse I spoke to couldn't even tell me if it was one or both eyes.  Stressed all weekend and worrying with so many questions. 

On the Saturday I received a letter from the diabetic department that my eye scan had shown abnormalities and I would be sent an appointment for the eye clinic.  This is very insensitive and being sent a leaflet about laser treatment is not an appropriate way to tell someone they have retinopathy and being sent for laser treatment at short notice. 

I have been left scared and feel sick.  I have had to look at what laser treatment entails on the Internet.

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Responses

Response from Amanda Griffin, Programme Manager, Diabetic Eye Screening, NHS Tayside about a year and a half ago
Amanda Griffin
Programme Manager, Diabetic Eye Screening,
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 19/03/2024 at 15:50
Published on Care Opinion at 15:50

picture of Amanda Griffin

Hi Sunny246,

My name is Amanda and I am the Service Manager for Diabetic Eye Screening. I am sorry to hear the communication regarding the results of your eye screening have caused you to be stressed and upset. I can understand that receiving a letter to advise you require laser treatment would be scary. A leaflet is enclosed with the correspondence from the Eye Clinic but I have not seen sight of this and am unsure how informative this is.

I believe you contacted a member of our Administration Team yesterday in this regard at which time Angela spent some time looking into your notes and arranged for our Associate Specialist to contact you. As Dr Wallace advised you, she had intended to contact you in person to discuss your results before you received your appointment, this is something that is done as a matter of course in these circumstances. However, it would appear in this instance a cancellation became available and this appointment was allocated to you to allow you to have your treatment at the earliest opportunity possible (it would normally be at least 3-4 weeks before you received an appointment).

I hope your discussion with Dr Wallace has put your mind at east slightly and again apologise for the untimely manner in which this communication was handled.

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

Update posted by Sunny246 (a service user)

Hi Amanda, thank you for your response. I did speak with Angela and she was reassuring and helpful. She did get Dr Wallace to call me and we discussed my forthcoming treatment on this Friday. It was great to get my questions answered and Dr Wallace assured me and settled my concerns.

I think this all happened very quickly (not a usual occurence)and the cancellation I have is good for me. I am happy with this and want to say thank you to you and your team for all you have done to reassure me.

Response from Amanda Griffin, Programme Manager, Diabetic Eye Screening, NHS Tayside about a year and a half ago
Amanda Griffin
Programme Manager, Diabetic Eye Screening,
NHS Tayside

Submitted on 20/03/2024 at 17:24
Published on Care Opinion at 17:24

picture of Amanda Griffin

Hi sunny246

I am so glad to hear speaking to Angela and Dr Wallace was helpful and reassuring for you. Should you have any further concerns please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We wish you well for your upcoming treatment and look forward to seeing you in the future.

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