Kings College Hospital - Opthalmology

[MiniViking]

Does anyone know what is going on with the Opthalmology department at Kings? I've had an eye appointment first pushed back from February to July, and now at the last minute it has been delayed to December! No-one who I can get hold of by phone has any idea what is going on. I will go there in person as soon as I can to try and find out, but wondered if anyone knew...?

Thanks

[Peckhampam]

Try PALS , the hospital's liaison service, who should be able to find out more for you.

Email

[email protected]

Phone

Tel: 020 3299 3601, 9am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday

[civilservant]

i've attended Kings' Ophthalmology department for a few years now for a long-term condition and that happens all the time to me.

if your condition is chronic and there is no emergency, they do tend to move appointments - i'm often told to ask for an appointment in 6 months' time, and then get a letter to say my appointment has been pushed back another 6 months,

but i get seen once a year as a minimum, so i assume that there is some kind of review process going on

and when i do get seen, i have to budget for a whole morning or afternoon off in the company of large numbers of very old people who are also being treated - very useful corrective to see how many people are worse off and in greater need of the service than oneself

if you have an emergency, then of course you can get a referral from your gp or be seen via A&E

[OutOfFocus]

I have found PALS helpful.

I had appt changed and they explained they hadn't factored in a consultants holiday.

(This was in a different clinic)

[MiniViking]

A big (but belated) thanks for the replies to this. Particularly the suggestion of contacting PALS who were hugely helpful.

Thank you.

[natty01295]

PALS was VERY SLOW

[edcam]

I had the same experience when I was an outpatient in that dept. Frequent last minute cancellations and rescheduling months afterwards. They're clearly very understaffed.