Background: In the assessment of a pituitary mass, objective visual field testing represents a valuable means of evaluating mass effect, and thus in deciding whether surgical management is warranted. Case presentation: In this vignette, we describe a 73 year-old lady who presented with a three-week history of frontal headache, and `blurriness' in the left side of her vision, due to a WHO grade III anaplastic haemangiopericytoma compressing the optic chiasm. We report how timely investigations, including an iPad-based visual field test (Melbourne Rapid Field, (MRF)) conducted at the bedside aided swift and appropriate management of the patient. Conclusions: We envisage such a test having a role in assessing bed-bound patients in hospital where access to formal visual field testing is difficult, or indeed in rapid testing of visual fields at the bedside to screen for postoperative complications, such as haematoma.