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Home E News E Improvements to the way we provide NHS eye surgery in north central London

Improvements to the way we provide NHS eye surgery in north central London

Eye doctor looking through a microscope
A new hub for planned eye surgery at Edgware Community Hospital means an additional 3,000 procedures will be carried out every year. This will reduce waiting times by up to four weeks for some patients who need sight-saving operations.

The hub, run by the Royal Free London, mainly provides treatment for adults who have common, low-complexity conditions such as cataracts.

The creation of the hub follows public engagement by the North Central London (NCL) Integrated Care Board with patients, residents, healthcare professionals, and others on proposals to improve NHS eye surgery. The proposals were developed by the NCL Ophthalmology Network to improve surgical efficiency and help tackle waiting lists for eye (ophthalmology) surgery in NCL.

Over 600 people took part in the engagement and the feedback largely supported the proposals. After reviewing the feedback, the ICB decided to implement the changes.

Patients who have their procedure at the Edgware hub will continue to attend their local optician or preferred hospital for tests and outpatient appointments before and after having surgery. Patients can also continue to choose to be referred to any hospital that offers the care they need.

The hub brings together some eye procedures that were carried out at Chase Farm Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital, and Whittington Health NHS Trust sites. The additional surgical capacity freed up will be used to reduce waiting lists in other specialties.

To find out more: read about the changes.