eye test

realspeed

realspeed

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Having had an eye operation a couple of years ago I am supposed to have a 6 month checkup. As the last one is overdue by 2 months a gave the hospital a phone call. Shock, the surgeon has left- his registrar has left and so has his replacement.. So now the hospital has no one to do any eye operations or even , like me, follow on eye checks not the pressure and chart reading but the actual looking at the back of the eye with the bit of kit they use. What a state the hospital is in and anyone with a serious eye problem will have to travel miles ,maybe even into London from the south coast . At the moment i have to have drops in one eye and the other has had a "stent" in place behind the eye so should be ok for the time being
 
Not a good situation to find yourself in :(

With that state of affairs in non maintained services is there not a patient's association?

I did find this page for the East Sussex Health Trust board members........I wonder what they would have say about it.

https://www.esht.nhs.uk/about-the-trust/people/

I hope you can find a solution for your much needed continued care.

Edit ~ looked into patients association and there is this

https://www.patients-association.org.uk/helpline

Fingers crossed for you.
 
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I would have thought a good opticians (even specsavers) can do that for you with a normal eye test .they will do the pressures and should also look behind the eye during tests .I know they do when I have mine tested
 
the black fox said:
I would have thought a good opticians (even specsavers) can do that for you with a normal eye test .they will do the pressures and should also look behind the eye during tests .I know they do when I have mine tested
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Yes, but if they cannot, due your opthalmic history, they will be able to give you a referral. You will quickly get an appointment and, if need be, directed to where you can the necessary expertise.
 
Thanks for the replies.

The problem is if one complains too much you can be "black listed" in respect of being pushed to the back of the queue for appointments.
when I first went ,sent by my DR, to the hospital, after the examination before anything else i was told, "ordered" by the surgeon to stop driving straight away. So i surrendered my driving licence to the DVLA for 18 months, or could have faced a heavty fine or even jail

Eventually I did contact the DVLA to see if I could take their eyesight driving exam and they arranged for me to have their test within a certain time limit at Specsavers which they paid for. I passed with flying colours and got my licence back for the next 3 years, which you have if over 70yrs old.. so he hospital deprived me of 18 months of driving on the sayso of someone without the authority .
even at the last examination they still ask if I drive, so my reply is always " your boss stopped me after the first examination"
That seems to satisfy them, which is true, but no way am i going to say i got my licence back incase they try and stop me again.
It is the DVLA have the authority not the hospital or their employees to say if you can drive or not. Thy even claimed they would inform the DVLA about me not being allowed to drive, but the DVLA denied they had any such notification when i rang them
 
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One has to wonder sometimes about the appalling 'bedside manner' of (some) doctors!

I have heard of one reason a doctor becomes a surgeon.................being because their patients are asleep when they see them.

Hope you can get yourself under the care of a more understanding Practitioner.
 
i have to say i am not too impressed with our local hospitals anyway. For nearly a year i kept having sharp chest pains, so one time my wife drove me to the hospital the A&E dept and i said i thought i was having a stroke . Wow did the move quickly apparently i looked like death warmed up. After having every bit of kit go over me they put me down for an MRI scan which never happened

I was rushed by ambulance at least twice more before eventually being admitted. Turns out I had a highly inflammed gall bladder and my blood readings were off the scale. 4 weeks later when they got my blood levels right had the op and afterwards the surgeon said he had never seen a gall bladder so bad i should have been admitted months earlier. it was that bad that they actually told my wife to expect the worse and I may not pull through.

But my stubborness not to give in helped I have no doubt, so here I am now annoying all you lot. Joking apart I didn't realise actually how bad I was until a long time afterwards. Again the hospital didn't take it seriously at first
 
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There will be a multitude of factors for your bad if not appalling care, some will be poor administration, some will be a poor culture of care in general and some will be downright low morale as the NHS is pretty much in crisis, but the problem is that not enough people care. More people care about animals than their fellow human beings.
As for the NHS, well, we will just keep watching it decline over the next 10 years or so I guess.
 
How long ago was your run in with the DVLA's medical group? They've apparently had a big shake up in the past couple of years after lots of pressure from a few interested groups (disabled drivers and motorcyclists). Just be aware that IF your eyesight could suddenly deteriorate and it (the deterioration) was determined to be a factor in any incident, your insurance might be void.
 
At the moment my eyesight has not got worse my last checkup showed that it was no worse
 
realspeed said:
Having had an eye operation a couple of years ago I am supposed to have a 6 month checkup. As the last one is overdue by 2 months a gave the hospital a phone call. Shock, the surgeon has left- his registrar has left and so has his replacement.. So now the hospital has no one to do any eye operations or even , like me, follow on eye checks not the pressure and chart reading but the actual looking at the back of the eye with the bit of kit they use. What a state the hospital is in and anyone with a serious eye problem will have to travel miles ,maybe even into London from the south coast . At the moment i have to have drops in one eye and the other has had a "stent" in place behind the eye so should be ok for the time being
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Which hospital? My sister had to go to Southampton for an operation on her eye. Apparently the bloke who operated on her eye is the top of his field in the UK.
 
IIRC, only the DVLA have the right to revoke your license but a medical professional can report you to the DVLA if they think you are medically unfit to drive - be it dementia, poor eyesight, etc.

I remember a year or two ago, an elderly man ran over a child and had poor eyesight and didn't wear spectacles. There was concern that the optician should have reported the patient.
 
As an interjection, my experiences with an eye problem which required surgery was fantastic, after a poor start at Moorfirlds in London.

I walked out after a series of unpleasant and painful appointments and my GP got me referred to St Thomas’s in London, where I had a Vitrectomy and direct laser treatment on the retina. Trick operation which meant I had to give up driving for some time.

The experience and professionalism of the staff the was awesome.

My current specialist is the head of ghe eye team at the RUH in bath and trained under the guy who operated on my eye at St Thomas’s.

I think overall there are fantastically skilled doctors in our NHS but when it comes to our eyes we need the best. As mentioned earlier, I can also support Southampton General Hospital Eye unit. I had an accident on a visit there last year when I was hit in my (bad) eye at a cricket match. Fantastic and immediate response at A&E and seen by an eye specialist 10 minutes after arrival.

You cannot p*** around with your eyes - leverage your GP and never miss appointments.
 
omens said:
IIRC, only the DVLA have the right to revoke your license but a medical professional can report you to the DVLA if they think you are medically unfit to drive - be it dementia, poor eyesight, etc.

I remember a year or two ago, an elderly man ran over a child and had poor eyesight and didn't wear spectacles. There was concern that the optician should have reported the patient.
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Problem is that the patient simply has to tell the GP he or she has informed the dvla, ie lie. There is no automatic reporting system for doctors or other health professionals.
 
Donnie said:
Problem is that the patient simply has to tell the GP he or she has informed the dvla, ie lie. There is no automatic reporting system for doctors or other health professionals.
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I have a feeling that for some conditions there is an obligation for a doctor/surgeon to inform the DVLA. I know that the surgeon who did my craniotomy told me to surrender my license before the DVLA revoked it since (in theory...) it would speed up its return. He told me that he would have to inform them that I'd had a meningioma removed and I have no reason to doubt him.
 
Nope, its guidelines only, there is no legal obligation, only if the doctor asks you to surrender it to the dvla, you say you will then he finds out you are still driving.
 
I have no complaints about the actual eye operation or who carried it out, It was first class treatment. It is the follow up check that fail miserably with appointment dates
 
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