"Staff's inability to cope with someone with..."

My daughter was taken to A&E by ambulance having lost her sight and in extreme pain following a severe migraine attack.

I was taken aback by the medical staff's inability to cope with someone who could not see and, at the time of admission struggled to open her eyes and was extremely photophobic. The nurse who admitted her into A&E, and so was fully aware of the problems, tried to hand her a cup of water but made no effort to place it her hands.

When I pointed out that my daughter could not see, the nurse dismissively said 'she's only photophobic so she can see'. This incident along with others during admission made me wonder whether the nurse was actually listening to what was said or just filling in paperwork.

My daughter was examined by the A&E doctor who was very sympathetic and after discussion decided that my daughter should be admitted.

Having been admitted to A&E, my daughter was seen by another doctor, who went through the 'history' of her case, but again seemed unable to cope with my daughter's inability to see such as showing her movements and wanted they to make and expecting her to copy them.

She was taken by a porter to eye casualty and arrived at 16.35 only to be turned away because they did not accept new patients after 16.30.

The porter did question that decision given the eyesight problem but was told to take my daughter back to A&E.

At this point the doctor seemed to give up and said that they had decided that my daughter should be admitted to AMU.

By the time she left A&E she had been in the hospital for nearly 5 hours.

On the ward she was seen by a very good first year doctor who listened and took the time to understand what was going on. The doctor involved neurology and further tests were arranged.

Twice during the night my daughter was taken to the toilet by a nurse, and was told to pull the red cord when she was ready, but no one came for her.

She managed to get out of the toilet but could not find her way back to her bed, each time she was eventually found crying in the corridor.

She was woken up during the night by someone trying to take blood, they did not wake her up to explain what they were doing, very frightening and upsetting for someone who can't see.

Early the next morning she was taken to ward 24, neurology.

She still couldn't see and was in pain and was told to pack her things up to move.

She again had to explain that she couldn't see and the porters packed her things.

On ward 24, my daughter was put by the window and the curtains closed cutting her off from the rest of the ward. She felt very alone, upset and ignored, she was not offered breakfast. I arrived at 8.30 and the staff were reluctant to let me in but as I explained I was taking part of their load by looking after her. I felt that the toilets were dirty and the wet floors hazardous.

Throughout porters and support staff were great but I expected medical staff to have a better understanding of the needs of patients with impaired sight.