Ophthalmology Network

Priorities

To develop and pilot a cataract surgery referral form for outpatient clinics as per the recommendations from the Increasing Access to Cataract Surgery forum held in August 2018.
To continue to work with stakeholders across the eye health community to improve access to Ophthalmology Outpatient Clinics in NSW.
The Community Eye Care project To develop a model of care for public patients with glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy from screening through to treatment and ongoing management including the involvement of low vision agencies.
To develop a resource for clinicians working in NSW public hospitals on the management of patients with low vision or blindness in the inpatient setting.
To facilitate the testing of a model of care for public patients with uncomplicated symptomatic cataract.

Achievements

Development of a vision defect in stroke screening tool for use by non-eye health practitioners to detect pre-stroke eye conditions as well as any new visual problems that may have occurred post stroke.
Development and distribution of the consensus eye emergency clinical guidelines for non-ophthalmic clinicians published in the Eye Emergency Manual. The App was reviewed in 2017 and updated to reflect changes in practice and expectations of an app.
Eye emergency clinician education for medical and nursing clinicians working in emergency departments in both rural and metropolitan areas.
Development and introduction of eyeplaysafe an interactive web-based learning package for children five to nine years of age available in all NSW public schools to teach children how to protect their eyes at home and when playing.
Validation and release of the Vision Defect in Stroke Screening Tool and eLearning module.
The Eyes on the Future Forum held in June 2017 which brought together clinicians from across the eye health spectrum.
The development of a model of care for public patients with age-related macular degeneration to improve access to treatment and ongoing management initially at Sydney/Sydney Eye Hospital.
C-EYE-C wins NSW Health Award: Following on from winning the WentWest Partnership Award for collaboration at the Western Sydney Local Health District Quality Awards, the Agency for Clinical Innovation's (ACI) Ophthalmology Network’s Community-Eye-Care (C-EYE-C) project has won the 2017 NSW Health Innovation award for Delivering Integrated Care.

The finalists were selected by their peers from 100 plus entries across the state.

The Community Eye Care (C-Eye-C) project was established in recognition that existing services will not meet the needs of NSW’s ageing population as evidenced by the prolonged waiting lists for access to public hospital ophthalmology clinic services. The model of shared care between hospital and community eye health providers is set up to ensure patients receive the right care in the right time and place.

Initial results have been very impressive with a high level of satisfaction reported from both patients and the staff involved at the two trial sites and a 47 % “no hospital follow up” resulting in a 7 week reduction in wait lists for the busy ophthalmology outpatient department. A model of care that can be replicated in other NSW public ophthalmology outpatient clinics is currently under development utilising the learnings from this project. Congratulations to Dr Andrew White and the rest of the Western Sydney team for all your hard work.

L-R: Joe Nazarian (optometrist), Clinical A/Prof Andrew White (Westmead ophthalmologist), 'Baxter Health', Belinda Ford (CEYEC Service Coordinator and PhD candidate), Margaret Nguyen (optometrist), Jackie van der Hout (Ophthalmology Administration manager)

L-R: Jackie van der Hout (Ophthalmology Administration manager), Belinda Ford (CEYEC Service Coordinator and PhD candidate), Clinical A/Prof Andrew White (Westmead ophthalmologist), Margaret Nguyen (optometrist), Joe Nazarian (optometrist)