A Wills	15:47 (16 minutes ago)

Daily Telegraph 9.1.20  “PATIENTS ‘AT RISK OF BLINDNESS’ AS WAITING TIMES FOR SPECIALISTS GROWS”

Patients are going blind because they have to wait too long to see an eye specialist, NHS investigators warn.  The watchdog says 22 patients a month suffer severe or permanent sight loss as the NHS struggles to cope with rising demand.  “The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch” said delays were having a “devastating” effect, such as a 34-year-old mother of 3 now unable to properly care for her young children who has never been able to see her baby.  She went blind after successive hospital appointment delays over 13 months at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.  16 glaucoma patients went blind.

(My comment:  Glaucoma can usually be treated to prevent sight loss by daily eye drops at home to reduce eye pressure.  My friend’s mother-in-law went blind after the hospital kept cancelling or mixing up her appointments.)

My wife was given an appointment for December last year but I contacted a volunteer group set up to help patients. I appealed to them for help as she was going blind and kept tripping over pavements.

By the time of the first appointment both her cataracts were removed and she has better eyesight than me. It's a shame the mother didn't  do as I did.