New community based eye services being developed in West Wales
New community based eye services being developed in West Wales will reduce the travel burden for hundreds of patients, travelling some of the greatest distances in the UK to access eye care.
Patients in the Hywel Dda University Health Board (UHB) travel to one of two sites to access wet AMD (an age-related macular degeneration, eye condition, which causes people to lose vision) services, either at Amman Valley Hospital, in Ammanford, or Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth.
For some patients in Pembrokeshire and south Ceredigion, this has required return journeys in excess of 100 miles for review, and sometimes a second journey for treatment (injection).
Thanks to Welsh Government funding for a pilot project, the UHB is in a position to now establish additional services in Pembrokeshire and South Ceredigion.
Not only will these services bring care closer to home for these communities, but they will be developed as one-stop-shop services, which can accommodate review and injection in the same visit in order to stop duplicate journeys when possible. This will also release capacity in the two main sites for other surgical work, reducing waiting times for patients requiring cataract surgery.
Executive Director of Commissioning/Therapies and Health Sciences for Hywel Dda UHB said: “This project will improve the quality of life for approximately 340 patients, often elderly and vulnerable, currently experiencing a significant travel burden by providing this care within a community setting, much closer to home. It will also release some capacity within our whole service, allowing us to treat more people who are waiting for care and improve patient outcomes.”
The UHB is currently analysing the best locations within community settings for the project, considering South Pembrokeshire or Tenby Hospitals for Pembrokeshire and either Cardigan or Crymych Health Centres for South Ceredigion. It is hoped the news sites will be up and running and treating patients within the next three to four months.
In the meantime, the UHB has been able to build some capacity at Withybush Hospital to review Pembrokeshire patients locally, for the first time since the services was set-up some six years ago, so that they do not have to travel to Amman Valley Hospital for this aspect of their care.
Mrs Davies said: “The feedback from patients so far has been positive as it makes a huge difference to their lives to have that monthly journey for review reduced so dramatically. Between 35 and 40 per cent of those consultations result in patients then having to travel to Anmmanford for injection, and so we look forward to progressing this project so that they can get both their treatment and review within their own locality.”
In addition, consultant ophthalmologist are also training some community optometrists to review more stable patients who have not required injections for some time in their community premises using their own equipment. This would involve several opticians across the three counties of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, with training already scheduled in January for high street opticians in Haverfordwest and Carmarthen.
Mrs Davies added: “Improving our patient outcomes and experience for wetAMD is a significant priority for our health board and we are excited to be progressing this project which is in line with our strategic aim to provide more review, care and treatment as close to home as possible. We have also maximised the potential to use innovation, such as training community optometrists. This is not only prudent and beneficial for the health service and its capacity to provide care to our population, but also evidence of a whole-systems approach which meets standards of care and provides a better patient experience.”
Patients in the Hywel Dda University Health Board (UHB) travel to one of two sites to access wet AMD (an age-related macular degeneration, eye condition, which causes people to lose vision) services, either at Amman Valley Hospital, in Ammanford, or Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth.
For some patients in Pembrokeshire and south Ceredigion, this has required return journeys in excess of 100 miles for review, and sometimes a second journey for treatment (injection).
Thanks to Welsh Government funding for a pilot project, the UHB is in a position to now establish additional services in Pembrokeshire and South Ceredigion.
Not only will these services bring care closer to home for these communities, but they will be developed as one-stop-shop services, which can accommodate review and injection in the same visit in order to stop duplicate journeys when possible. This will also release capacity in the two main sites for other surgical work, reducing waiting times for patients requiring cataract surgery.
Executive Director of Commissioning/Therapies and Health Sciences for Hywel Dda UHB said: “This project will improve the quality of life for approximately 340 patients, often elderly and vulnerable, currently experiencing a significant travel burden by providing this care within a community setting, much closer to home. It will also release some capacity within our whole service, allowing us to treat more people who are waiting for care and improve patient outcomes.”
The UHB is currently analysing the best locations within community settings for the project, considering South Pembrokeshire or Tenby Hospitals for Pembrokeshire and either Cardigan or Crymych Health Centres for South Ceredigion. It is hoped the news sites will be up and running and treating patients within the next three to four months.
In the meantime, the UHB has been able to build some capacity at Withybush Hospital to review Pembrokeshire patients locally, for the first time since the services was set-up some six years ago, so that they do not have to travel to Amman Valley Hospital for this aspect of their care.
Mrs Davies said: “The feedback from patients so far has been positive as it makes a huge difference to their lives to have that monthly journey for review reduced so dramatically. Between 35 and 40 per cent of those consultations result in patients then having to travel to Anmmanford for injection, and so we look forward to progressing this project so that they can get both their treatment and review within their own locality.”
In addition, consultant ophthalmologist are also training some community optometrists to review more stable patients who have not required injections for some time in their community premises using their own equipment. This would involve several opticians across the three counties of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, with training already scheduled in January for high street opticians in Haverfordwest and Carmarthen.
Mrs Davies added: “Improving our patient outcomes and experience for wetAMD is a significant priority for our health board and we are excited to be progressing this project which is in line with our strategic aim to provide more review, care and treatment as close to home as possible. We have also maximised the potential to use innovation, such as training community optometrists. This is not only prudent and beneficial for the health service and its capacity to provide care to our population, but also evidence of a whole-systems approach which meets standards of care and provides a better patient experience.”
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