"How excellence in cataract ops could still..."

I had an operation for my R eye cataract by an outstanding clinical team under an equally eminent consultant on 03 April 17. The consultant is warm,friendly and down to earth making patients feel welcome and relaxed. Such high standards in service delivery could easily make Royal Berkshire Hospital the envy of other NHS hospitals! However,RBH could improve further still if only a few areas of deficit,albeit very important to patients' experience are addressed as a matter of urgency which in terms of overall costs must be a drop in the ocean! After a successful operation,I was discharged with a green plastic bag containing useful information leaflet in aftercare,eye drops,patient identification details of the lens implant and a discharge letter. What's NOT included however are two indispensable basic items: a few packs of gauze and micropore,considering that the patient is required to remove the eye patch the following day,apply an eye drop every 4 hours and wear the all important clear plastic eye guard at night for two weeks. It needs to be strapped in place with micropore! It was a totally humiliating experience when I had to telephone my GP surgery for a couple of sterile gauze packs and micropore today to be told by the Practice Nurse that I need to go out and buy them from a pharmacy the day after undergoing an eye operation! It may well be that even the consultant ophthalmologist is not aware of such a glaring deficit when patients are discharged! Imagine the costs to the NHS when things go wrong in aftercare with accidental trauma or an infection in the absence of such indispensable basic items! This is a classic case of being £ foolish and pennywise ! I sincerely hope that the authorities take serious note of my constructive criticism and take immediate steps to include one or two packs of gauze and a micropore in the discharge pack to make what is otherwise an outstanding service delivered by a team of brilliant clinicians!