Diabetic Retinal Screening

Firstly, can I just say thank you to all those people who read my last blog and sent messages wishing my mother well after her visit to hospital.  I'm glad to say that after a week of not doing very much - something she finds incredibly difficult - she is feeling much better, although she is still a long way from her normal self.

 

Yesterday, I had my annual appointment with the Diabetic Retinal Screening Service at my local hospital, Croydon University Hospital, formally Mayday Hospital.

 

When I usually go to hospital I get the patient transport services to collect me and bring me home, but the transport services at this hospital refuse to take me in my powered wheelchair, and I am then reliant on porters having to push me round.  This is hugely frustrating and involves lots of waiting round for people to come and push me.

 

As I only go to this hospital about 3 times a year I have decided that I'll try and be a bit more independent and go by taxi, in my powered wheelchair.  In London, there is a Taxicard scheme for disabled people, where the various boroughs provide subsidised travel in London Black cabs, for destinations within London.  Under the scheme the minimum fare and the mileage rate you pay is lower than normal.  You can only do a set number of journeys a year.  You can pre-book your cab on the phone or online, and they will keep you informed if there are any delays in the cab getting to you. It is an excellent scheme.

 

Sadly, the value of this scheme is slowly being eroded as part of the cut back in local services.  It isn't hugely expensive for local authorities to run but it isn't seen as a priority.  Therefore its easy to make changes but these hit the people who need it the most.  Recently the minimum fare has increased from £1.50 to £2.50.  In addition to this the number of journeys has been reduced from 104 per year, which is one trip there and one back per week, to 74 journeys a year.  This reduction in journeys means many people are now limited in being able to get out into the community to go to community centres, visit friends and relatives, and generally do the things they would normally do.  Its just another impact of the Governments austerity measures and an example of how these always seem to hit the most vulnerable.

 

Anyway, getting off my soapbox, I had booked the cab the day before as I needed a cab with a ramp that was able to take my powered wheelchair.  The latest Black cabs have slightly wider doors and more room inside, which means even the larger wheelchairs ands scooters can be accommodated in them.

 

Wheelchair access into a London Cab

 

The cab was about 15 minutes late getting to me, but when you book they warn you to allow 15 minutes either side of your pick up time, to allow for hold ups.  As I know there are some major road works locally, I had allowed a bit of extra time.

 

We got to the hospital with about 20 minutes to spare before my appointment.  After getting out of the cab and paying - the journey should have been about £28.00, but with the subside was £17.50 - I made my way towards the screening department.

 

The front of the hospital

 

The back of the hospital

 

The screening department is in the old section of the hospital - on the second floor in the upper right hand windows as you look at the picture above.  The usual lift was having some maintenance work done on it, so I had to go to another lift at the other end of the corridor.  When I got to the lift I couldn't reach the button to call the lift.  Fortunately, a nice lady noticed my plight and came and called the lift, and then when it came pushed the button inside for the second floor.

 

I checked in at reception and was called in almost immediately.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Diabetic Retinal Screening process, the first thing they do is put some eye drops in.  The worst thing about this is not the fact that the eye drops sting - this only last a short time - but the fact that they make your pupils dilate, so that they can take a good picture of the back of your eye.  This means that more light than normal is going into your eye, and on sunny days this can be really painful.  Fortunately, yesterday was wet and cloudy.

 

After having the eye drops put in, I sat in the waiting room, whilst the eye drops take full effect.  This took about 20 minutes, and then I was called in again.  They then take pictures of the back of your eye, which they bring up on their computer and can check for any retinal damage.  Mine was all clear, so I won't need to go back until next year.

 

Having finished I made my way back to the lift.  I could reach the button to call the lift, but once inside, and with the door closed, I could not reach the buttons to say which floor I needed to go to.  I then had to sit, trapped in the lift, and wait until either someone on another floor called the lift, or someone on my floor came to use the lift.  I couldn't even reach the button to open the doors to get out.

 

After about 5 minutes of sitting there, someone must have called the lift on the ground floor, as we started to go down, and I was able to get out.

 

I then needed to find a disabled toilet.  The one at the front of the hospital was locked, and you needed to get a key from reception.  When I got to reception there was no one there.  I then remembered there was a disabled toilet in the Physiotherapy Department.  I got into the toilet fine, by pushing the door open with my chair, but when I can to come out I found that the door had a return bar on it, which meant that I couldn't get out.  I managed to get the door open a bit and the called someone as they went past to help hold the door.

 

The lady who came to my aid was a physio called Mary, who had been my physio when I first came out of hospital about 5 years ago.  We had a nice chat, and she was pleased to hear about me going to NHNN and the progress I was making with standing.

 

I then went back to reception and called for a taxi, and after about a 30 minute wait, as a wheelchair accessible cab wasn't in the area, I was on my way home.

 

A Union Jack Cab - like the one that took me home

 

I found that going to the hospital in the cab was very much better than going using the hospital transport.  In all I was probably out for about 3 hours, whereas in the transport I'd have been out most of the day.

 

When I spoke to a friend in the evening I told him I had been for my Diabetic Retinal Scan, and he responded that he wasn't aware that diabetes caused problems in that area, and then asked how did they manage to do the scan.  I then realised that he must have misheard me, and pointed out that it was a retinal scan, not rectal!!!!!!!