‘By the time I finally saw surgeon, I had gone blind in my right eye’

Pensioner who lost his sight

Bob Dalton, 74, should have been given a follow-up outpatient appointment at Southampton General Hospital within a fortnight following an operation to repair a detached retina.

However, he wasn’t seen until more than a month later – by which point he was blind in his right eye.

Mr Dalton, a retired RAF administrator, from Alton, was worried about changes in his eyesight and repeatedly made calls to the hospital.

By the time he finally saw his surgeon, he had suffered a total detachment of his retina. With no vision on his right side, his depth of perception is drastically altered.

“It does change your life,” he said. After 50 years marriage, his wife, Maxime, 72, had to help him adjust. He said: “When someone gives me change or a receipt I have to put two hands out to get it because I don’t really know where it is.”

The grandfather of three used to

enjoy extreme sports including skydiving and climbing to Mount Everest base camp. Now even using the kettle to make a cup of tea is difficult.

“I can’t cycle anymore because it’s too dangerous. I used to run quite a bit of cross country but I don’t do that anymore because I can’t see what is underfoot,” he said.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust has admitted negligence in failing to advise the pensioner to attend the hospital when his vision was worsening.

However, the trust maintains that Mr Dalton is likely to have suffered some degree of loss of vision in any event, even had he received the correct telephone advice and been seen promptly in the outpatient clinic.

A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said: “Mr Dalton’s case is subject to a claim which is yet to be resolved so we are unable to comment further at this stage.”