Has anyone else been asked this?

[jayuk]

Hi

SOmething really irritating and annoying that Ive been asked a number of times when going to see a Lens Specialist either on NHS or Private

"Can you not wear your lens for a few weeks to keep the cornea clear and you will have an appointment sent to you for 4 weeks"

Sometimes I feel like saying "How about I bandage your eyes up for the same period and lets see if you can do the same!!"

Sorry but this message a bit of a vent....I get soo anygry inside when I visit the Lens Specialists and am faced with a receptonist who will say something really stupid when you tell her that your lens which you have recieved is too tight on the eye and without it you cannot work as the other eye cannot achieve adequate vision!!...and shell look at you and say smething like "Ill have to book you an appt for a few weeks"

ARGHHHH!!!!!

[Susan Mason]

Well I haven't experienced that one yet, although as I seem to be at the hospital about every 4 weeks I doubt they would be daft enough to suggest it, especially with my current difficulties.

What I have encountered on several visits now is the nurses insisting they run at me with the eye chart before I see the doctor or consultant, most frustrating! I sometimes wonder what part of 'I can't see anything' they do not understand and also as my file is over an inch thick why they ask daft questions like ' do you wear glasses for distance?'

Now I realise they see lots of people for lots of different reasons but surely reading the last few lines on my file notes is not expecting too much?

My sister, who has just qualified as a nurse and recently started work on an eye unit couldn't believe how Iwas spoken to just before christmas by one nurse, I came quite close to explaining to her it was my eyes that has a problem and not my brain or mental function.

Hopefully mine is an unusual case, I should say in the contact lens clinic I am treated quite differently.

An explanation I was given on one visit by one nurse was 'it is a legal requirement to have your vision checked before seeing the doctor' anyone heard this one?

[GarethB]

Hi Susan,

Long time no speak

Think legal requirment to have eyes tested before seeing a doctor is a bit lame! I mean we would not have been refered to see the doctor if our problem had not been picked up on an eye test! When I get my appointments for the doctor, the contact lens specialist is always put first to see what degree of change has happend so they can discuss any changes with me and the doctor before the Doc has a good poke around.

The only dealings with a nurse at the hospital I go to was when I got my lenses and the hospital wanted to make sure that after a 15 year break that I still knew how to look after my lenses.

Jayuk; I do agree that sometimes when trying to communicate with people regarding our situation (not my hospital though) that I feel like poking them in the eye and saying 'Now you see what I see with the same degree of comfort'

Regards

Gareth

[Lynn White]

OOOPS!

Well... having worked in hospital clinics I do know the answer to this one...

Yes - you do have to have your vision measured before you see anyone. This is a general thing for every single patient and in fact it is a general thing before anyone anywhere does any kind of an assessment on the eyes - private and NHS.

Why? Because a professional needs to see if the vision is up, down or the same compared to the last visit. Even with a keratoconic, the unaided vision gives useful information.

HOWEVER, in a hospital setting, taking visions can be done by nurses - it saves times in teh busy clinics. Because the nurses are trying to push through as many patients as possible, they simply do not have time to read the notes and even if they did, they could not wade through them all from beginning to end which is sometimes the only way to understand the condition of the person in front of you. Just reading the last few entries is often not that helpful!

When in the clinics, they do actually know what you are there for so are much more sensible with you.

Now as to being asked to wear lenses when you can't - well often a receptionist has not much idea what your situation is - a professional - well thats another story and often you are requested to do that so that a better picture can be got of what is going on in your eye.

It can be just as frustrating to US to have a patient come in not wearing a lens when we are short of appointments. "Why aren't you wearing your lens?" "Oh well... it gives me trouble after I have worn it 4 hours!" "Well..... if you are not wearing it - we can't TELL what it is dong after 4 hours!" I rather liken it going to get your car MOT'ed without taking your car with you.

It all comes down to lack of communication on both sides. KC is not a common problem and even within hospital clinics there will be a lot of people who have no idea what its like to be KC. That includes some professionals.

So, yo uhave to work with that in mind and explain as clearly and as calmly as you can why you need early appointments and why you cannot wear lenses for too long etc etc.... then go and break some crockery afterwards to vent your frustration!!

Lynn

[jayuk]

Lynn
Agreed and I can totally understand

But when a receptionist is/has been working in a Contact Lens department for about 6 years and knows what KC is, it kinda gets really frustrating...especially as one has calmy explained that he is in sh*t creek without a paddle without the single lens he can only see with.............and thats the very thing I had yesterday.............and it was sooooo annoying i can not explain...............

[Lynn White]

Ahhh yes ......

I DO understand. Unfortunately, excellent receptionists are as scarce as gold. We often get frustrated with them ourselves!!!

You know, you have to remember that jobs are well protected nowadays.... if you find your receptionist turning into a dragon, there is not much you can do about it unless they do something terrible. In a hospital environment, you cannot even claim they are losing you business!

I did a domiciliary at a small private hosptial the other week and the receptionist there was incredibly rude. My colleague and I almost turned round and walked out!

So I do sympathise!!

Lynn

[Susan Mason]

Maybe we should replace the receptionist staff with KC people, I am xure we would all have more sympathy when dealing with patients and if we had a bad eye day our employers would have no excuse for sayng they did not understand, as with some other employers, who seem to be able to hide behind ignorance.

[jayuk]

Thats a good point....Ive never had issues with my employer.....but then Ive been through a fair few of jobs.....only recently started my current job.

Dont know how Id react if I got treated in a bad way due to my KC....has anyone had problems with employers over KC?

[GarethB]

The only problems I am devloping with collegues is that now I have more good eye days than bad is that they come to me squinting at a piece of paper and want my opinion. I just take the paper and enlarge it and give them an enlarged copy too. The penny soon drops as to how stupid they are when they realise even they with supposedly good sight could not read what they gave me.

A few safet audits have questioned how much I can see with dark safety glasses, but they leave me alone now after one such audit when I pointed out some sereous items overlooked!

The nurse at work says beacuase I am aware of my sight problems I probably take more of my surroundings in when I can see so that when the world goes blured, I have a mental map of where everything in. My work life with KC and the relationship with my employers is relativly easy compared to some that I know.

Gareth