"Appalling!"

In July 2017 I attended a routine eye test at Specsavers where the optician noted an anomaly with one of my eyes when carrying out the Retinal Imaging.

They referred the matter and I received a letter from NHS Choices asking me to choose from Hythe, Lymington or Southampton Hospital.

I opted for Hythe Hospital and received a call from their staff asking me to book an appointment with one of the others - I refused as I was living in Hythe without my own transport and NHS Choices had confirmed that Hythe Hospital had the capacity for this routine consultation.

To make a point they made an appointment for 23rd April 2018 which I accepted.

Without my consent they then made me an appointment at Lymington for 27th November which I attended only to find that due to a complete lack of information they ran the wrong tests.

The staff there also advised me that due to similar issues with other referred patients that I shouldn't rely on the system to update me and advise me of the next course of action, but to ring if I hadn't been contacted within a couple of weeks.

I rang after 3 weeks and was bounced from one number to another and then finally informed that an appointment had been made at Hythe Hospital for 22nd January - I complained that I hadn't received a letter as promised but no apology was forthcoming.

I attended the appointment and the consultant examined my eye and agreed that there was an issue and said that I would be referred back to Lymington for a scan or X-ray.

Some weeks later I received a letter saying that I would be reviewed at Hythe Hospital in 3 months.

Today I called to say there had been a mistake and eventually the staff member confirmed that the consultant had noted that I should be referred but they had failed to do this.

I asked what should happen now and was told to call Lymington Hospital and try to explain the issues created by Hythe Hospital and to ask if they could make me an appointment.

The whole situation is farcical - no one takes ownership when things go wrong and the staff I have encountered at Hythe Hospital treat their patients with utter contempt.