Eye treatment patients get apology after suffering avoidable damage
Patients who suffered avoidable damage to their eyes following treatment in Shropshire have received an apology from health chiefs.
David Evans, chief officer for Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group, said he was "extremely sorry" to patients for the failures identified in a report by the Royal College of Ophthalmology.
The RCO was asked to carry out a review of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust's (SaTH) ophthalmology service last year following a series of serious incidents.
The report states that in six out of 17 cases there was evidence of "significant avoidable deterioration in vision" and in five cases there was "possible evidence of avoidable deterioration in vision". It also states that while the response to the serious incidents has been "determined", the service is hampered by being based in facilities that are "no longer fit for purpose".
In a paper due to be presented at a meeting of Telford CCG's board on Tuesday, Mr Evans said: "The report does conclude that in a number of cases patients may have come to harm and I am extremely sorry that the level of service that patients should have received has fallen below the expected high level of care that should have been delivered. I would like to offer my apologies on behalf of the CCG to those patients and their families for this failure.
"I can assure the board that the two CCGs and the trust are working closely together to ensure that both lessons are learned and that the resultant action plan will be delivered to ensure that there is not a repeat of these failings."
In the report 17 serious incidents were investigated including details about patients who had either a delayed diagnosis or delayed outpatient appointment.
One case was a patient who had a seven-month delay in being offered a follow-up appointment which could have contributed to the deterioration of their vision.
The report added: "The performance of the ophthalmology service is significantly hampered by its physical environment. The service has expanded considerably in the last few years to accommodate the macular treatment service and the existing accommodation on Ward 10 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is no longer fit for purpose."
