News

Our Ophthalmology team (above) have held two weekend-long ‘super clinics’ to see patients who have experienced long waits for procedures like cataract removal.

Across two weekends in August (1 and 2 and 8 and 9) our team saw 377 patients, including: 348 who had cataract assessments, 21 glaucoma reviews, and eight retinal laser treatments.

Tim Reynolds, general manager for ophthalmology, said:

We arranged these super clinics to tackle a backlog of patients, many who had waited over 18 weeks for cataract assessment, which we know is too long. Our priority was to get them assessed and ready for surgery as quickly as possible.

We’ve also arranged additional pre-operative assessment capacity throughout September so most of these patients should have their operations within the next month.

The success reflects on teamwork across the service. Consultants and speciality doctors, supported by the ophthalmology nursing team, worked alongside our administrative colleagues, helping patients access sight-restoring treatment sooner.

During the clinics, 237 patients were booked for their pre-operative assessments ahead of their surgery.

The initiative has also significantly reduced the cataract assessment backlog, so patients will now be seen much sooner.

Tim added:

Colleagues were willing to give up their weekends to help as many patients as possible receive care much sooner than they otherwise would have been. It took meticulous planning, including contacting all patients directly and keeping them updated to ensure we had as few cancellations as possible. That paid off as almost 95% of patients attended.