Ophthalmology patients set to benefit from new Ashfield service
and live on Freeview channel 276
Sherwood Forest Hospitals has opened its new community diagnostic centre at Ashfield Health Village.
The service allows eye patients with conditions such as glaucoma and macular degenerative disease to access a range of diagnostics tests.
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Hide AdThey include vision tests, optic pressures measuring, scans of the optic nerve and a field test, all carried out within around half an hour.
The diagnostic service was first trialled at King’s Mill Hospital during the pandemic, to ensure that patients with these time sensitive conditions were able to be seen in a timely way.
Both the diagnostic service at King’s Mill and the new diagnostic centre at Ashfield Health Village have helped to significantly reduce the backlog of patients needing ophthalmology diagnostic tests.Healthcare support worker Michelle Tarry said: “The new service is more streamlined and ensures that there’s less waiting times for patients in between their tests.
"This means we can potentially see more patients and ensure we are providing outstanding care, as we have more time to spend with them, which helps when we are explaining things. It’s definitely a quicker and slicker service for our patients, who can then usually get their results a few days after their tests.”
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Hide AdConsultant Ophthalmologist Vineeta Munshi added: “Ophthalmic conditions, particularly, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration can cause irreversible visual loss if not treated in a timely manner, so I’m proud to say that we managed to address this by setting up the diagnostic clinics at King’s Mill Hospital and Ashfield Health Village to see our patients in the most efficient manner during and in the recovery phase of the pandemic.”
The new diagnostic centre is currently open Monday – Wednesday and has been running since the end of July.
Patient Betty Breen, 82, from Jacksdale, who came in for her glaucoma test, said: “It’s the first time I have been to the new centre, it’s much quicker than I expected and there’s no waiting in between appointments, which is better.
"The staff are really friendly and courteous, I’d recommend the service to other patients."
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Hide AdIt is hoped that the diagnostic centre will open Monday – Friday over time, as more patients use the service and more diagnostic tests become available.