4.60

Many thanks to the friendly and efficient coordinator who arranged appointment at convenient time. Also grateful to Mr Aziz for his patience, expertise and clear communication about my treatment.

Extremely polite and friendly staff As usual Miss Corbett is amazing

I paid to go privately because of very long waits in the NHS. As far as I can see the only difference was being seen within 3 weeks as opposed to the NHS wait of ~12 months, and having to be re-referred in again by my GP. This was for something that I went to the A&E about in July last year and was triaged as low priority & wasn’t seen until 9:30pm when I was told that if I had been seen earlier [I arrived around 4:45pm] they could have dealt with but they couldn’t treat me know because all the machines had been turned off. I was the only person left to be seen, A&E had been shut, & most of the staff had gone home. I went because the vision in one eye had deteriorated and I was getting similar symptoms to before I had the original cataract operation. Night driving was becoming problematic. My private appointment was for 3pm and I arrived at 2:15pm. I was seen about 4:10pm and was told I needed laser treatment, which I already knew from my visit to A&E last summer. I was then given the option of coming back AGAIN to have it done or waiting until it could be done later that day as they were rather busy. I opted to wait that day to have it done because my vision was becoming increasingly worse. There was another patient being seen at 5pm who also needed laser treatment so we could have our treatment ‘together’ once she had arrived & after an NHS patient in A&E had been seen as a priority. Miss Corbett returned at about 7pm & I found to my surprise & dismay that the other patient was going to be seen first. By this time it was 4 hours after my private appointment time, but only 2 hours after the other patient’s appointment time. Once again I was the last person to be treated. I was offered one cup of tea in the whole time I was there. The staff were all friendly & polite but everything was happening in the same rather chaotic way as the NHS patients received. Having paid to go privately I had expected that everything would be managed differently & that I would be seen at the time given, treated carried out & I would have left by 4pm at the latest. As you can see from my narrative that my experience was very different. I actually work in the NHS and specialise in quality improvement so it was a shock to discover that private patients are treated in the same way as NHS patients and that systems & processes need to be overhauled for ALL patients, but especially the private patients who are, after all, paying for their treatment, in my case out of my own pocket. I know that there is a general shortage of staff but if processes were actually reviewed & made fit for purpose it would benefit both patients AND staff and make the whole experience much better and more efficient for all. When my brother paid for me to go privately 2.5 years ago to have the cataract in my other eye operated on I spent much of one day in a private room with very noisy building work happening on the roof literally just outside my window. I felt like the only thing that was different to NHS care was the fact that I could get medical care without the massive waits of the NHS. However that was the ONLY difference as far as I could see. I have also worked in healthcare in the private sector for another provider & know that the whole experience should be vastly different to my experience at the Western Eye Hospital. The systems & processes to deliver care at the hospital are very substandard and really let the patients & staff down. The experience could be immeasurably better without costing a lot of money. Value for money? A resounding NO. Staff trying to deliver better care? YES, but feeling powerless to improve anything. Could I make a difference to everyone without costing a small fortune? A resounding YES! As a former intensive care sister & passionate about quality improvement would I want to work with the Western Eye Hospital to significantly improve the whole experience? Another resounding YES! To focus the mind though, I am NOT HAPPY about personally paying [to me] a significant amount of money to receive this standard of patient experience. The staff are doing the best they can to provide good care but are let down by the organisation who should be making this a priority so that patients would be happy with their care, on the NHS or privately.

Friendly and efficient

Good experience

Excellent treatment

I can only praise Miss Richardson. She was professional, kind, efficient and not only solved my eye problem in a few minutes but made the hospital visit a really nice experience.

The staff were very jokey and giggly amongst themselves. Unprofessional atmosphere. The receptionist read out my card no and security no on the phone in front of others waiting in reception another indicator of almost non existent training or awareness. The most unprofessional atmosphere I have been in for medical attention

The staff were all delightful and caring

When I have had treatment both in patient and out patient, the Western Eye and their consultants and nurses are the ONLY hospital where I have felt the first priority is the health and well-being of the patient and not of obtaining the money for it ahead of time. The care is also so knowledgeable and kind. I could not have a higher opinion of this hospital.