The eye casualty is based in the Westminster Eye Centre at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The service is available during working hours for patients with acute eye conditions.
To attend the emergency eye service patients are required to be referred in via the community
opticians, GP surgery, or accident and emergency.
Referrals are then triaged based on clinical urgency.
Once a referral is received, patients will be contacted by one of our triage nurses for an
appointment or advice regarding the acute eye condition.
Out of hours, cover is provided on alternate weeks by Arrowe Park Hospital or at the Countess of
Chester Hospital.
What is an eye emergency?
• Chemical injury
• Penetrating injury or eye lid laceration
• Severe pain or loss of vision within 4 weeks of surgery or treatment injection
• Sudden onset of double vision
• Sudden loss of vision with pain
• Sudden loss of vision without pain
• Painful loss of vision if contact lenses normally worn
• Pain or loss of vision after glaucoma drainage surgery or corneal transplant surgery at any
time in the past
• Severe eye lid swelling with fever and loss of vision or double vision
• Eye pain keeping you awake at night
Are you already a patient at The Westminster Eye Centre?
If you have had recent cataract surgery at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the past 4 weeks or
attended and emergency eye casualty appointment in the last 2 weeks and are still experiencing
issues with your eyes, please call 01244 363 017 to be connected to the Triage Nurse.
If you are currently under the care of a specialist team and need to speak to someone about an
existing eye problem, or recent surgery please dial the main switchboard on 01244 365 000 and
ask for the relevant secretarial team.
Alternatively, if you have an appointment query, please dial
appointments hotline on 01244 366 663.
On arrival
When you arrive at the eye clinic, please check in at the reception desk.
You will undergo an initial
assessment by an Ophthalmic Nurse followed by imaging of the eye (if required).
Dilating eye drops may also be required to examine your eye – for this reason it is very important that you do not drive to your appointment.
Expect your eyes to be temporarily blurred for a few hours
afterwards.
You will then be seen by the doctor (Ophthalmologist) who will undertake a thorough
assessment of your medical history and examine your eyes using a light microscope (slit lamp).
We endeavour to keep to appointment times, however, due to variability in emergency cases seen
please be prepared to wait for up to 3 hours.
Westminster Eye Centre Eye Casualty opening times:
0830-1630 Monday – Friday.
For any eye emergencies out of hours (evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays) please attend
your nearest Accident and Emergency department.