Optometrist, John Davidson, has outlined how the glaucoma services at his practice provide benefits to patients and ease the pressure on secondary care.
In conversation for OT’s August/September Eye care success stories edition, the owner of Querido and Davidson shared that his Newcastle Hakim Group practice offers a Glaucoma Enhanced Referral Service (GERS).
Alongside this, for the past 18 months the practice has also offered a glaucoma monitoring service that sees suspect glaucoma patients who are not on treatment discharged from the hospital eye department to receive regular reviews in practice.
“They will be monitored for at least two years and possibly discharged if there is no evidence of glaucoma and no risk of glaucoma in the immediate future,” Davidson said.
Davidson added that the hospital is also starting to discharge patients who are on intraocular pressure lowering eye drops, where there is a very low risk of developing glaucoma.
“Now that the hospital eye department has gained confidence that the system is working they are allowing more patients to come out from hospital into community practice,” he said.
The optometrist shared that if there are any concerns about a patient they can be referred back into the hospital.
Reflecting on the main benefit for the hospital, Davidson noted that offering glaucoma services in the community frees up capacity within the hospital.
He added that patients also receive accessible care – with most patients seen within four to five weeks.
“It is local. The patients who we are asked to see are on our doorstep,” Davidson said.
He highlighted that the response to the glaucoma services in practice has been “really good.”
“Patients enjoy coming. They feel like they have had a good experience and been well cared for,” Davidson said.
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