Four-hour trip for 10-minute check

ON Wednesday, August 8, I had an appointment at the Worthing Eye Hospital.

Because of the no-driving clause, I left home at 9:45am to get the bus. My number 6 bus from Salvington only runs every 1¼ hours so I had to find another bus route to Worthing town centre to get the pulse bus to the hospital.

I arrived at 10.45am and was to sit down to await call, etc.

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I was called at 12:45 pm to be seen after one-and-a-half hours of sitting.

How come the delay of this time in the early morning? I was seen for between five to 10 minutes and given a prescription to collect eye drops.

I took the prescription on arriving home, to my local pharmacy only to be told I should have gone to the hospital pharmacy.

Never having experienced this before, I was unaware of the hospital pharmacy being at the hospital as I was not told by any person issuing it where it was. I was a little stressed out of arriving home at 14:20pm, four-and-a-half hours of hanging around.

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I then made another bus trek on Thursday to the hospital pharmacy to collect my prescription.

I waited 30 minutes for it to be dispensed and was told one of three items was not stocked but would be given details for me to take to my GP to dispense.

On enquiring which one, I found out I was already in receipt of this one and had been using it since March.

Why did the person issuing the prescription put it on when it was not stocked at their pharmacy?

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In October, 2008, a Mr Servante of Sompting wrote a letter in the Herald of “about my missed dates at the hospital and of the time waiting, etc”.

In the article it was said of 13,000 missed appointments and reasons of some sort. I then had a letter in the Herald in answer to Chris Servantes, four years on and still hours of waiting.

I am 89 and I didn’t take too kindly to the time waste of awaiting buses/changing buses, etc and of the time waiting to be seen.

Mr Chee Kon’s department recently had an accolade of the work his staff carried out in the eye hospital and I quite agree. Nothing was mentioned referencing time waiting, etc.

C.E.Gunning

Brendon Road

Worthing