"Lack of professionalism"

Recently, I attended the Eye Emergency Department (ED) and was advised that I would require 'injections' in my eyes. An appointment was made for the next week.

I attended the hospital and the reception staff were very helpful as were the nurses. In fact Wade (reception) has impeccable customer service skills and as I sat listening to him, every customer was like his first of the day, even around mid-afternoon as I was leaving. I believe he is a credit to the team.

I met with a doctor who confirmed that the operation would be going ahead and that my eyes would be numbed by drops and injected. When I was called in for my operation, the clinician did not introduce themselves, I was told to go and lie down on the bed. After a couple of minutes they came over and stood over me, so I stopped them and asked what they were about to do. I did the same with the anaesthetic needle and the fluid that was to be injected into my eyes. At no time was I informed of the procedure beforehand and I was really nervous not knowing what to expect. To make matters worse another clinician came into the room and advised the person who was attending to me that they needed to conduct something and they was told they could do it in this room. seconds later I hear another person's voice and look over and it's a patient. I have 3 people of the opposite gender in the room and I am lying on a table in a dress. I felt that was extremely unprofessional and culturally unacceptable.

When the procedure was completed I was told: OK it's all done you can go now. I asked what would happen when the anaesthetic wore off and if it would hurt I was told, Oh it might hurt a little where the injections went in. I was not advised to take sunglasses (light-sensitive) or that I should bring someone with me or that I wouldn't be able to drive or that my vision would be blurred for some time.

I found it difficult to walk to the train station on my own due to blurred vision. I was in pain the whole train trip home and found I had to wait to be able to drive myself home. Later that night I had to be admitted to another hospital's ED as I was in unbearable pain. The whites of my eyes are still red and weep a bit.

The lack of professionalism by this clinician is awful. I am due to come back early next year and beg that this clinician does not operate on me ever again and that I feel you explain to staff the importance of customer service, arming patients with information pre-procedure. I feel very disappointed.