A hospital has apologised after telling a patient to buy his own tweezers to remove his ingrown eyelashes when he arrived at Accident & Emergency. Medical staff at Maidstone Hospital told Dai Williams, 45, they couldn't find a suitable instrument to conduct the procedure. They then suggested that he 'pop out' and buy his own.
So diabetes sufferer Mr Williams drove three miles to the nearest supermarket and bought a pair before returning to the hospital to have the painful eyelashes removed.
He said: "I was having my regular eye test in Boot's last month and the optician saw the lashes in my eye and told me I had to pop into the A&E at Maidstone.When I got there they looked in and a nurse tried with a massive pair of forceps and failed to get them out.
"They started looking all round the hospital, someone checked with their Ear Nose and Throat department and they had none either. Some of the nurses checked in their handbags for a pair and still no luck." He added: "I was furious to be honest."
"We all know the NHS is having big problems but this was just too much to take - having to buy my own equipment. I was lucky I didn't have heart problems, I probably would've had to bring in my own knife." Mr Williams, from Staplehurst, paid £3.45 for a pair of tweezers. He said he let the hospital keep them, because it must be feeling the "credit crunch".
A hospital spokesman said: "We are sorry there were no tweezers small enough in the department and thank Mr Williams for offering to help solve the problem. We'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
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