Shropshire Star

Health bosses hail new eye department at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

The creation of a new eye care department at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital will provide excellent facilities, help attract staff and make it possible to see more patients, health bosses have insisted.

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The new department is being created in the Copthorne building and will feature more clinical rooms and new equipment.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust recently announced that adult ophthalmology outpatient appointments and the urgent eye clinic for adults and paediatric patients will be moving into the building from June 26.

Paediatric ophthalmology outpatient appointments will temporarily move from RSH to Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital from May 30.

Health bosses say further building work needs to take place to prepare the new paediatric ophthalmology area within the Copthorne Building, which is expected to be complete in October.

They say the temporary move is to ensure there is no loss of paediatric outpatient capacity across the whole service.

Afterwards, paediatric ophthalmology outpatient services will be provided at both PRH and the Copthorne building for the foreseeable future.

The services affected are all currently provided in clinic 10 at the RSH.

Prasad Rao, consultant ophthalmologist and clinical director at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said the new eye department would be a fantastic facility for patients in Shropshire and mid Wales.

He said: “Our new eye department at RSH has been designed with the needs of ophthalmology patients in mind and will mean our outpatient services will be provided in a modern facility, with new equipment and more clinic rooms where we can see more patients each year.

“We’re sorry that we won’t be able to provide paediatric ophthalmology appointments at RSH until the autumn and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

“But we’re confident that the new eye department in the Copthorne building at RSH will provide excellent facilities where we can continue to ensure the best possible care for our patients and also attract new staff to enhance our capacity further.”

Ophthalmology paediatric operations will continue to be provided at PRH.

Adult ophthalmology services provided at PRH and ICAT at Euston House in Telford will also not be affected.

Nor will the orthoptic outreach clinics for paediatric patients at Newtown, Welshpool, Ludlow, Bridgnorth, Whitchurch, Market Drayton and Oswestry.

Earlier this year SaTH’s ophthalmology department temporarily suspended referrals for glaucoma, as well as general and adult squint referrals in order to clear a backlog and reduce waiting times.

It is expected the suspension will last until late summer or early autumn.