"Poor accommodation for a blind patient"

My husband, who is blind, was admitted to Ayr Hospital for an overnight stay in preparation for a CT scan for his colon.

On admission he was just about shown where the toilet was across from his bed but nothing more, even though he cannot see and would have benefited from being taken around to familiarise him with the ward.

During his stay when meals were brought for him they were left in front of him not properly explained or handed cutlery so that he could feed himself. The same with medication.

I explained all the medication he was on when I took him in, medication for an old injury was in a packet but this showed an old dosage which had changed. I took the precaution of getting a print out of his meds and doses from the GP so that the ward would have this information to hand, this was left with the nurses. However, no medication was given to him at all.

in the morning he had already made his way to the bathroom and had a wash by the time the ward assistant came round with bowls so that patients could have a wash. My husband explained that he did not need the bowl of water as he had already had a wash. nevertheless the bowl was left on the table where he could easily have knocked it over.

Then the nurses came round to do observations - blood pressure was taken using his right arm though I had explain that an injury to his right arm meant that pressure needed to be taken from his left arm.

When my husband came home he was very upset with his experience. It seems that the staff can cope with routine procedures but when this happened, it was out of the ordinary so they couldn't handle it.