Pixabay/Silas Camargo Silão
09 October 2020
Around 250 glaucoma, cornea and medical retina patients could receive diagnostic scans each day at a hospital that was created to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic before being put on standby.
Papers presented to the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust virtual board meeting on 29 September describe plans to invest £2 million transforming part of the Nightingale Hospital Bristol into an ophthalmology diagnostic hub.
Nightingale Hospital Bristol was built in three weeks to provide additional intensive care capacity following the outbreak of COVID-19 but was never used.
Board papers note that the need to maintain social distancing within waiting rooms has resulted in a significant reduction in clinic volume within ophthalmology outpatient services.
As part of efforts to mitigate the impact of this, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust is exploring the use of “alternative clinical environments” to deliver outpatient care.
As well as the creation of a diagnostic hub at Nightingale Hospital Bristol, the trust is investigating the feasibility of developing an ophthalmology outpatient facility at the Galleries Shopping Centre in Broadmead.
Papers presented to the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust virtual board meeting on 29 September describe plans to invest £2 million transforming part of the Nightingale Hospital Bristol into an ophthalmology diagnostic hub.
Nightingale Hospital Bristol was built in three weeks to provide additional intensive care capacity following the outbreak of COVID-19 but was never used.
Board papers note that the need to maintain social distancing within waiting rooms has resulted in a significant reduction in clinic volume within ophthalmology outpatient services.
As part of efforts to mitigate the impact of this, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust is exploring the use of “alternative clinical environments” to deliver outpatient care.
As well as the creation of a diagnostic hub at Nightingale Hospital Bristol, the trust is investigating the feasibility of developing an ophthalmology outpatient facility at the Galleries Shopping Centre in Broadmead.
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Nicholas Rumney14 October 2020
I thought the Bristol. Eye Hospital was the hub and the spokes should be the optometrists in the community undertaking all sorts of non-surgical ophthalmic care. I'd spend half the money on the community in the sort of enhanced care (pre-cat, almost all post-cat, 1st step fast track, enhanced glaucoma case finding OHT treated and untreated mgt and glaucoma management) by optometrists (of whom there are plenty, already with the capital investment) and the rest on surgery so CCG's don't have to play silly buggers holding cataract surgery back with irrelevant high contrast VA criteria. Have to say in a normal world this step is dubious, in a COVD world its grandstanding and not appropriate. Nothing to celebrate here, move on.
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