"Visiting Hairmyres Eye Clinic with my wife"

I attended this clinic with my wife. While waiting for her to be called I witnessed various nurses and care staff wandering seemingly aimlessly and  growling out names of patients or simply mumbling names before wandering off.

Having been called my wife had drops placed in her eyes in order to facilitate further investigations however we then sat for a further two hours waiting to be called. In this time I watched elderly patients being left behind and becoming lost as the nurse walked off at speed saying "follow me" the nurse then stopped and shouted on the now lost patient across the waiting room however the patient could not see the nurse. It is the eye clinic after all. Rather than approach the patient the nurse remained where she was and continued to call for them forcing them to use the sound of the shouts to identify the correct way to go. This is a terrible way to treat anyone but especially those vulnerable due to eyesight difficulties.

My wife's drops had begun wearing off when she was finally called and taken to have her eyes photographed. There she was put into a sitting area and abandoned for an hour before being moved into the next waiting area where she waited another hour before being seen. Sadly this is not an unusual experience.

I have consistently found the nursing staff to be rude, obnoxious and unhelpful in the extreme. I have witnessed some nurses speaking to elderly patients with no insight into their tone or care as to whether the person is following what is being said.

It seems like Hairmyres hospital doesn't understand owhat people are going through within these clinics. Any complaints are met with the excuse its a casualty clinic. While I understand that in such a case emergencies are seen first however surely a separate clinic could be arranged for emergencies otherwise what is the point in giving people appointments if these are always ( in the 20+ visits here) hours late.