Our medical negligence team helped a member of Unite the union secure £250,000 compensation after hospital delays caused him to suffer life-changing sight loss.
The 61-year-old man was one of several patients who found themselves affected by administrative delays in appointments at the University Hospital Southampton’s Ophthalmology department.
At an initial appointment in June 2017 he was diagnosed with mild glaucoma and scheduled to have a second appointment within six to eight weeks. In reality, he was not seen again until January 2018 – despite contacting the hospital multiple times concerned about the delays. By the time he was eventually seen, he had lost 90 per cent of the vision in his left eye, and his sight in his right eye had deteriorated.
He said: “Whenever I chased the hospital, they didn’t seem to care. They cited delays but didn’t seem to acknowledge my concerns or even apologise for what happened.”
The deterioration in our client’s eyesight has had huge consequences on his life. He can no longer legally drive, and his condition limits the work he can do. He has been told that, had he been seen within the anticipated six to eight-week timeframe, it could have reduced the damage to his right eye and stopped the vision loss in his left eye.
As a member of the Unite the union, our client contacted Unite Legal Services and Thompsons Solicitors for legal support. Thompsons medical negligence specialists had previously highlighted concerns about the impact of appointment backlogs at the University Hospital Southampton’s Ophthalmology department and so were all too aware of the life-changing impact that delays could have for those with sight-threatening conditions, such as glaucoma.
Unite Legal Services and Thompsons Solicitors helped him secure £250,000 compensation.
Gemma Mitten, of Thompsons Solicitors, said: “Even when they were repeatedly contacted, University Hospital Southampton ophthalmology clinic failed to deal with a case that was clearly sight threatening and the consequence of that failure for our client was life-changing. No one should be left to go blind because of hospital management failures.
“The crisis in University Hospital Southampton ophthalmology clinic has been going on since 2018 and the time for the hospital management to get a grip on shortcomings is long past, their failure to do so is devastating the lives of those they are supposed to help.”