Ophthalmology

The Ophthalmology department is situated in the Westminster Eye Centre within outpatients 2. The department provides a comprehensive service to a population of approximately 260,000 within Western Cheshire and North Wales. Annually, the department sees approximately 30,000 outpatient attendances, around 3,000 day case procedures and approximately 3200 intravitreal injections are carried out.

The department has been divided along sub-speciality lines and includes cornea, glaucoma, oculoplastics, paediatrics, medical retina and vitreo retinal surgery. eye casualty clinics run daily to deal with any patients requiring urgent medical attention.

We also have a dedicated team of orthoptists, optometrists and a contact lens service.

The clinical team consists of seven consultants, four associate specialists and specialty doctors and an allocation of deanery trainees.

Consultant Team

Mr Kashif Ali (Lead Clinician, Glaucoma and Cornea)
Mr John Bhargava (Oculoplastic)
Mr Jeremy Butcher (Paediatric Ophthalmology and Squint)
Mr Joey Cazabon (Surgical and Medical Retina)
Miss Fiona Cuthbertson (Medical Retina)
Mr Craig Parkes (Surgical and Medical Retina)
Miss Natasha Spiteri (Cornea)

Nursing Team

The Westminster Eye Centre consists of a ward area (ward 55) and clinic area and operates with a dedicated highly skilled nursing team.

The ward consists of six beds and opens Monday-Friday 0700 until 2000 and Saturday 0700 until 1400. Patients who attend the ward for surgery can either have general or local anaesthetic and are taken care of by the dedicated highly skilled staff nurses and health care assistants.

The clinic operates Monday – Friday 0830 until 1800 and is run by specialty trained clinical nurse specialists, staff nurses and health care assistants. The clinical nurse specialists run their own designated clinics alongside eye clinics within the department and these include:

Age -Related Macular Degeneration clinics (AMD)
Glaucoma Clinic
Pre-operative Clinic
Post-operative Clinic
Emergency Clinic
Fluorescein Angiography Clinic

Optometrists

A hospital Optometrist team provides a full range of services. These include regular contact lens clinics and low vision aid clinics and assistance with paediatric clinics. The optometry department also supports other specialist clinics within the department.

Orthoptists

Orthoptics is a branch of ophthalmology and orthoptists diagnose and treat problems of ocular motility and binocular vision.

The majority of the patients seen in the orthoptic clinics are children with problems such as, squints, reduced vision requiring glasses, lazy eye requiring patching to more severe problems such as sight impairment. The orthoptic department also runs paediatric clinics in the community.

Adults may attend with double vision that may be from fairly straightforward medical problems, such as diabetes or high blood pressure as well as complex cases from serious neuro ophthalmology conditions. Adult patients who have had a stroke may have visual changes and these may affect their rehabilitation if left undetected – these changes may include double vision and permanent field defects.

Eye Clinic Liaison Officer

The Eye Clinic Liaison Officer (ECLO) is based in the eye clinic to assist people with sight conditions to access the support they may need. The ECLO can provide advice on a range of matters, including how to live with sight loss and remain independent, eye conditions, emotional support and the advantages of certification and registration. The ECLO can also signpost people to the right agencies who can give advice regarding any benefits and concessions they may be entitled to, education, employment, housing and leisure or details of latest equipment and technology which may help.