"Dissapointing"

What could be improved

I attended the A&E department on Saturday 3rd September with symptoms of chest pains, dizziness, sensitivity to light and blurred vision. Although, I was seen immediately and the staff who attended to me were very pleasant, I was discharged without a diagnosis of my symptoms. It was not until three weeks' later when I saw my GP with the same symptoms, that a very serious eye disease called Uveitis was flagged up. My GP sent me to Moorfields immediately where the diagnosis was confirmed. The doctor who attended to me at Barnet A&E department on 3rd September failed to carry out one simple test which involved using a small torch to see if my pupils were reacting to light. If she had carried out that test then she would have seen that my pupils were not reacting to light and subsequently Uveitis could have been diagnosed sooner and the extent of the inflamation in my irises would have been less.

i realise that working within an A&E department must be extremely stressful and that there is often scope for human error. Granted, the doctor who was attending to me frequently looked tired and quite stressed. However, I feel that this highlights a very serious problem which needs to be addressed. Doctors and nurses who work under these stressful conditions need regular breaks in order to carry out there duties effectively and to make sound judgements. Otherwise, misdiagnosis or a failure to diagnose serious conditions is likely to occur, as it did in my case.