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"My mother's cataract operation"

About: Leicester Royal Infirmary

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I took my elderly mother to the Leicester Royal Infirmary recently. The appointment was arranged for 10..30am as were the appointments of 6 other people we arrived at 10.25 am and there were 3 people that arrived after us but my mother had number 7 on her file therefore she was the last to have the operation. the first 10.30 appointment was called to theatre at 14.00 hrs my mother was called at 15.45 hrs why on earth have 7 people with the same appointment time my mothers wait was 5 hrs 45 minutes. The beds that should have been used for the Cataract patients were occupied by other patients so the plan was to take cataract patients from level 6 to level 2 after they had their tests and drops then bring them to level six for the operation then back down to level 2 for recovery. But there was not enough staff to do this, therefore it was a matter of sit where there is a space for recovery.

The staff were excellent and they were all working under pressure due to the seeming bad organisation.

I think whoever is responsible for this department needs to look very carefully at their appointment system, as the majority of the patients were not very mobile elderly people and to be treated like seems disgusting. It must also be very distrerssing for the overworked wonderful staff.

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Responses

Response from Leicester Royal Infirmary 12 years ago
Leicester Royal Infirmary
Submitted on 20/02/2012 at 10:32
Published on nhs.uk on 21/02/2012 at 04:01


We're sorry to hear about your experience. Its not unusual for us to book many patients for a specific time as we know for experience that some of those patients will not turn up. If they all do then we do our best to see them as soon as possible.

Its currently a very busy time in our hospitals with us looking after lots of very poorly people, this would be why your mother and the other cataract patients would have been moved to a different area. Whilst none of this is ideal our staff work hard to treat the patients that we have an avoid cancelling proceedures unless necesary.

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