Eye Care Services
In 2014/15 we received a large number of comments from people about problems they were facing with cancellation of clinics and delays for treatments at the Ophthalmology departments at RSH and PRH. This information was fed into the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust's (SaTH) own scheme to improve the patient experience of the Trust's booking process. It was agreed that HWS and SaTH would work collaboratively to gather further feedback.
In February 2016 HWS agreed to work collaboratively with SaTH to gather further feedback from patients. A total of 146 patient surveys were completed by staff and volunteers from HWS. These were done face to face with people attending appointments at out-patient clinics, including Ophthalmology.
The survey targeted patients who had recent experience of the booking process to try and establish levels of satisfaction and to identify key areas for improvement. A detailed report of the findings will be published by the end of the year.
Summer 2016
We continued to receive a substantial number of comments relating to Ophthalmology services at the hospital. We continued to share these comments with both the Director of Nursing at SaTH and with Commissioning managers at the CCG and to ask for a reassurance that plans were being put in place to improve waiting times for patients.
November 2016
Community-based eye care services
You shared comments with us about experiences you have had with Opticians, The Practice and other community-based eye care services. We have shared these comments (anonymised) with the CCG. Commissioners have been able to use your comments to look at the specification of the new ‘substantive community service’ which will be going out for procurement in the early new year.
December 2016
HWS has shared all the comments we have received about ophthalmology services at both RSH and PRH (anonymised) to the Care Quality Commission to help inform the hospital inspection, taking place week beginning 12 December.
September 2018
The Ophthalmology department has been focused on improving the patient experience but recently we have received a few comments that indicated that SaTH perhaps had still not got things quite right. We shared these with the department through the SaTH Patient Experience team. As a result we found that some of the issues you raised, around the waiting area and communication, were already under review having been identified by staff and volunteers and the department is implementing or trialing solutions. In these areas your comments added weight to the case for change while other comments will be used to review processes.
We will continue to share comments with the relevant providers and commissioners to ensure that the patient voice is really listened to and used to drive better care.
