My wife has just had a call inviting her for the cataract op on her right eye, for 31 October. Naturally she said yes as she's itching to get it all sorted.

She had the left one done on 1 April, at the time they said the second one could be up to 16 months wait at our nearest hospital, or as little as 4 months if we went further afield. As it happens this is at the nearest hospital, same surgeon who she feels confident with, so happy about that. I'll report how she goes on as there seems to be some interest in this procedure.

Only slight concern is the dates they pick - first one April Fools Day, this one Halloween........... 😀

On 10/9/2025 at 3:56 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

My wife has just had a call inviting her for the cataract op on her right eye, for 31 October.

Well, so much for that. Further call this morning advising that her surgeon is off ill and not operating until further notice!😞

3 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Well, so much for that. Further call this morning advising that her surgeon is off ill and not operating until further notice!😞

Very annoying from you both I'm sure but at least you got plenty of warning.

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary have got a problem getting equipment sterilised recently due to a break down, so are cancelling a lot of procedures just now.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl5gep4021o

 

43 minutes ago, Turvey said:

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary have got a problem getting equipment sterilised recently due to a break down, so are cancelling a lot of procedures just now.

NHS Scotland have a problem ?

Fear not, John Swinney is right on the case, and all will be sorted by tea time 🤣😂🤣

On 10/13/2025 at 1:36 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Well, so much for that. Further call this morning advising that her surgeon is off ill and not operating until further notice!😞

Good news - just had another call to say the op is rescheduled for a couple of weeks time. Different surgeon who my wife saw for an initial consultation, so she's still happy with him. Let's hope he doesn't go sick!😀

Fingers crossed @Eric Bloodaxe 🤞

Don't know if this is one for here or "Things I like". 

Whatever, I had an appointment this morning at 10.10am for my annual check with the practice nurse for BP, weight, blood sample, blah blah.

While I was there I wanted to make a GP appointment for another matter:

Receptionist: "10.45"

 Me: "What date?"

 Receptionist: "Today"

Normally it's 2 weeks if you're lucky!😀 

3 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Me: "What date?"

10 years from now .....

 

On 10/16/2025 at 3:46 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Good news - just had another call to say the op is rescheduled for a couple of weeks time.

Well, so much for that - again! Had to drop my wife off early this morning as near as practical to the hospital as it was impossible to get closer for traffic (which is the usual story there). When she got in she was told all ops were off for reasons unknown, but given another date end of month (3rd time lucky?).

 

 

 

28 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

impossible to get closer for traffic (which is the usual story there).

Southampton General is the main hospital here, and getting there and parking is getting much more difficult.  To make matters worse, local small hospitals are cutting back on things like blood tests, so more people may need to travel to Southanpton for such routine procedures.  

24 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

Southampton General is the main hospital here, and getting there and parking is getting much more difficult.

Our nearest main one is York. There have been issues with parking etc for years, but a while back a multi storey was built. We thought that would solve things, but as you say, more and more things are being centralized so it's probably worse than ever.

It's a  vicious circle - cars queuing to get into the car park back up onto the road outside, so that creates a further jam and even affects ambulances if they're coming from a certain direction. They have a dedicated entrance but that's no use it they can't get to it.

My wife and I usually go there by a combination of bus/walking if it's just for an examination etc, but as she was going for an op I tried to go with her.

Ironically she had the first procedure earlier this year 50 miles away in Scarborough and parking was a doddle. 

 

The main hospital here, RVH Belfast  (Royal Victoria Hospital) is a nightmare for parking, often taking in excess of an hour to queue up, often making you late for appointments. There is signage on the approach road apologising, but those signs have now been up for longer than 10 years!

1 minute ago, StephenFord said:

, often making you late for appointments.

Welcome back Stephen !! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

50 minutes ago, unofix said:

Welcome back Stephen !! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

Just dipping my toe back in, still recuperating 😂

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Just dipping my toe back in, still recuperating 😂

Good to see you back, put your best foot forward 🤣

I see this story is widely in the media:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15289831/Lord-Mandelson-caught-relieving-garden-wall-visit-George-Osborne-Notting-Hill.html

I'm not his greatest fan, but as someone of a certain age with similar issues, I fully sympathise.

When you gotta go, you gotta go!😀

On 11/12/2025 at 11:57 AM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

but given another date end of month (3rd time lucky?).

Well, today was the later date. This time my wife actually got as far as having the anaesthetic drops in her eye, got to the threshold of the theatre and then .........told there was a fly infestation in there and sent home!😠😠

 

 

39 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

.........told there was a fly infestation in there and sent home!

I blame the BBC !!

It's all these fly on the wall documentaries 🤣

54 minutes ago, unofix said:

It's all these fly on the wall documentaries

Tempting though it is to blame the Beeb, it's probably down to the sudden rise in temperature. It's barely been above freezing for the last few days, but was 13°C this morning. How they got into a sealed sterile environment is a mystery, though.

The surgeon was very annoyed and made a point of apologising to the patients affected. My wife has now been offered an appointment for a week on Saturday. More finger crossing!

Fingers crossed for you both  @Eric Bloodaxe 🤞

 

Today I had my 6th, and hopefully last for this year at least, vaccination! 😮

For those of you who are interested I've had, in order, Prevnar 13 and the first of 2 Shingix, the flu jab, Pneumovax 23 and the 2nd shingles and today was Covids turn.

Having MS, prostate cancer and Leukemia I seem to get offered the full range of vaccinations which I will willingly take as I firmly believe that prevention is better than cure 😉 and no, I'm not going to get into the whole 'covid scam' debate! 

27 minutes ago, Turvey said:

Fingers crossed for you both  @Eric Bloodaxe 🤞

Thanks, Kevin. We'll be crossing everything that will still cross!

Jabs seem to be a controversial point in some quarters but I'm with you on both counts.

 

 

 

 

 

This morning my wife received an appointment letter for the follow-up post operative check for the operation she hasn't had.

Local hospital trust is not excelling on this one!

My partner works for mac millan taking calls, texts, web chats etc from all of UK.  she says there a pattern to the complaints about hospitals. Certain hospitals and  trusts keep coming up. 

 

24 minutes ago, iantt said:

Certain hospitals and  trusts keep coming up. 

Durham and Sunderland hospitals must be at the top of her list 🙁

My wife called an ambulance for me as I had severe chest pains radiating up my neck and into an arm. She was told that an ambulance had been arranged but it could be up to 90 minutes!

Fortunately she remembered that a paramedic lives next door and went to fetch her. After the neighbour paramedic did some tests, administered some Asprin and phoned 999 again an ambulance arrived within 10 minutes.

The good news is that after 8 hours in hospital and lots of tests I haven't had a heart attack and the pain hasn't returned after a week. I'm still waiting further tests to establish the cause.