"Eye clinics"

The system of dealing with patients attending the Eye Clinic seems to have changed and not for the better. All patients are now required to check in at one Reception point which meant standing in line for 20 minutes and the hospital porters having to cope with pushing their heavy trolleys through doorways where people were queuing. The three Clinics were all very busy but there was only one member of staff available to make follow up appointments. The wait this time was 25 minutes. An enquiry about the procedure for making a complaint brought a sympathetic response followed by a fruitless search for an appropriate form. No wonder the number of complaints is small. The care and treatment at the RVI is excellent but it was apparent that the chaotic and inefficient organisation is as frustrating for the staff as it is for the patients, the majority of whom appeared to be in their eighties and unused to standing for such long periods.