To think this is unnecessarily complicated NHS

[NHSNonsense]

So today I've hurt my eye, nothing super terrible hopefully but my vision is fuzzy and I'm seeing some spots.

Work advised me to go to eye casualty to have it check out properly. So off I went to our nearest hospital to do just that but upon arrival I was told they don't accept walk ins. Fair enough my fault for not checking so I was directed to A&E.

After waiting in A&E for a while I was told I needed to go to eye casualty but they couldn't transfer me so I would need to ring 111. After expressing some confusion at this approach I went outside and duly obliged.

A 35 minute wait for 111 to answer and assess the situation resulted in me being told to go to A&E despite my protests that I'm already at A&E and they've said they cannot help me hence why I called 111 in the first place.

I've now wasted hours being passed from department to department and am no closer to actually being seen?

AIBU to think this is being made unnecessarily complicated and can anyone advice what the fuck I'm meant to do to actually get someone to look at my eye?

Self present to eyes cas ?

Absolute shitshow & unfortunately fairly typical of the NHS tbh. They'll just do the absolute minimum they need to in order to get you off their desk. Sorry I don't have any advice OP, other than I feel your pain!

Are you in or near London? You can walk into Moorfields.

Our local eye hospital is the same but if you turn up they give you the phone number to call for acute help. They ask you to go outside to make the call!

In Scotland you can go to an optician and they will refer you. They keep emergency slots.

Sadly nowhere near London and eye casualty is where I went first, sorry if that wasn't clear and they said they won't see me without a referral from an optician, GP or a prior appointment .

Bureaucracy. Ain't it wonderful? Passing you from pillar to post hoping you'll go away. I hope you get it resolved soon, OP.

Should have gone to the optician first , most will see you if it’s an emergency and they can refer you to the eye clinic .

Tbf, I'd have tried an optician first, precisely because a&e etc is such a shitshow.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I genuinely thought eye casualty would be the correct place to go. Nothing I can do about that error now as opticians will be closed soon and I'm stood outside the hospital.

Call your optician and ask them to do an online referral

Say you're worried about detached retina

Sounds like a shit show.

I would have gone to eye casualty too. I've been there before without a specific referral (although that was before the NHS was quite so thoroughly trashed).

My first port of call would have been the opticians. Why not go there first. Most of them would have seen you immediately.

Honestly because I didn't know that was where you were meant to go and work said go to eye casualty which seems like exactly the right place to go if you've hurt your eye.

I've called two opticians now and one didn't answer and the other said they would need to see me first before making a referral but they close at 7 and given the distance via public transport that's obviously not going to happen.

I would suggest 111 now. Are you still physically at eye casualty? If so I would go back in and explain what you have tried to do.

We had this problem recently with there being no clear referral system between paramedics, GP & the stroke unit.

It should be straightforward but it isn't at all from what we found recently with a relative. It's not joined up - but I don't blame the staff.

The second paragraph clearly states that she had done exactly that but they don’t accept walk-ins.

I’m sorry they won’t see you without a referral, how frustrating. I mentioned Moorfields because I know they would accept without a referral. However, that’s not an option for you, clearly.

YANBU at all!

It is over complicated but I'd be interested if the website for your local hospital is clear on the procedure.

For our Eye casualty the website is explicit about calling them first so they can manage triage and clinics and order any tests they may need.

We had to attend once and it really smoothed out the process as they were ready for us when we arrived.

Minor injuries unit? I worked in one and we had an eye bit!

I'm stood back outside A&E on the phone to 111 again. If this doesn't work I shall be going back to eye casualty and trying to explain again because honestly I'm starting to lose the will to live.

Good luck OP. Hope you get some help soon, one way or another.

I phoned 111 at the weekend as I'd forgotten to pick up my medication and had run out. They asked if I get it on repeat or if I have to see my GP to get it. I told them I get it on repeat. So they told me go to x pharmacy. So I go there and say 111 sent me to get my medication. When I get there the pharmacist says she can't give some to me as they are controlled drugs so an out of hours doctor needs to prescribe them. She says to ring 111. So I do and then the person on the phone tells me to go to the pharmacy I'm sitting in! I explain what the pharmacist said, person on phone still confused. So I have to hand the phone over to the pharmacist who tells her what to do. I then have to sit there for 2 hours til a doctor can prescribe them. Which was fine just wish that could have been sorted in the morning on my first call. The 'do you get it on repeat?' question obviously isn't fool proof if you are on controlled drugs.

We had to stop our eye casualty walk in when we got overrun with nonsense and couldn’t see the real pathology.

Most people hadn’t tried to self care, use any treatments or see the optician.

So now it’s a ballache for everyone involved!