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Excellent Care But Awful Appointments

Story from nhs.uk

"Excellent Care But Awful Appointments"

About: Eastbourne District General Hospital

I recently had excellent care whilst having an eye operation in the Jubilee Eye Suite. Staff were incredibly kind and caring.

However, I had stitches that needed to be removed after 7 days, but unfortunately there was nobody available to make the appointment to have them removed. I was told that an appointment would be sent.

After 5 days I still had not heard about an appointment, so I telephoned the Jubilee Suite. They returned my call within 20 minutes, saying that an e mail had been sent to appointments on the day of surgery, but obviously this had not been followed up. I now have an appointment that has to be 10 days after my surgery instead of the 7 days. As I have some stitches on my face, I am concerned, maybe unnecessarily, that I may be left with scars/mark and that it will be more difficult to remove the stitches as they have had time to become part of my skin.

My other concern is - What would have happened if I had not telephoned to enquire about the lack of appointment and just patiently waited, trusting in the professionalism of the service? How long would it be before an appointment was sent? Surely the appointments team can understand the need for time priority appointments and deal with them immediately?

Many thanks again to the staff of the Jubilee Eye Suite.

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Responses

Response from Eastbourne District General Hospital 3 years ago
Eastbourne District General Hospital

Submitted on 12/01/2021 at 10:39
Published on nhs.uk at 14:35

Dear Shelagh,

Thank you for taking the time to leave us some feedback about your recent experience of care under the Jubilee Eye Suite at Eastbourne Hospital; we very much appreciate it. We hope the procedure you underwent has been beneficial to your sight, and that the stitches have now been removed with the area of treatment healing nicely.

The Trust remains committed to high standards of care and treatment for patients during the COVID pandemic and whilst we are delighted to read you received excellent care for the team in the Jubilee Eye Suite, we are disappointed to note your comments regarding an appointment for the removal of your stitches and apologise for any unnecessary worry or distress caused to you. We have shared your comments with the Service Manager for Ophthalmology and the General Manager for our Patient Access Team to ensure the booking of follow-up appointments for eye surgery run smoothly; a surgical procedure on, or in the region of, a vital organ such as an eye understandably causes anxiety and worry, so we need to ensure our follow-up procedures alleviate this wherever possible.

The kind words you shared about the care you received in the Jubilee Eye Suite were passed to the team, who were very grateful for your praise and gratitude. We wish you all the very best for good heath Shelagh; please take care and stay safe in these difficult times.

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