Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
06 January 2023
St James’s University Hospital in Leeds has celebrated the opening of a new ophthalmology outpatient department.
The purpose-built department cost £8.5 million and opened on 12 December.
The new clinic space provides larger rooms, compared to the previous location, as well as improved access and clearer wayfinding.
The department was planned in consultation with patients to ensure the needs of partially-sighted visitors were met in the new layout.
The 2500 square metre facility features 108 rooms, including consultation rooms, central diagnostic rooms, a refractive unit, and virtual clinic room.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Ophthalmology is the largest outpatient department at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT), treating over 100,000 patients per year.
Craige Richardson, director of estates and facilities at LTHT, explained: “We see a significant number of eye patients every week and this purpose-built environment will provide a setting that is both cutting-edge in its design and sympathetic to the needs of visually-impaired patients.”
Describing the “huge amount of planning and multidisciplinary input” that went into the new department, clinical director of head and neck services at LTHT, Jonathan Bilmen, said: “I’m really proud to see the completion of this state-of-the-art facility which will massively improve patient care in ophthalmology outpatients.”
He added: “Accessibility has been really important to us and we have worked closely alongside our patient panel to incorporate features that will help visually-impaired patients throughout the department, including different coloured waiting areas and easily identifiable zones.”
The department has been designed with wide corridors and natural light, for easier navigation, while wall art displays Yorkshire scenes and can also provide further wayfinding cues for visitors.
Comments (2)
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Paddy Optom11 January 2023
The NHS is in a mess thanks to deliberate Tory Government policy with it's puppet British press priming the public for its destruction.
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Anonymous06 January 2023
Leeds Trust, Ophthalmology Departments already have several multi disciplinary teams in their community so there is no incentive or funding for the primary care optometrists to diagnose and keep Patients away from them or the Hospital. If this funding of £8.5 million had been allowed to filter down into primary care optometry, I just wonder how many patients could have avoided a trip to the HES or outreach clinics. So the necessity to increase the size of the Leeds Trusts HES empire would not be required. Leaving the extra nurses, doctors and support staff free to cover other departments of the hospital.
With ever increasing NHS empire building it's not surprising the NHS is in the mess it is.
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