A template for reducing ophthalmology outpatient waiting times: community ophthalmic care.

BACKGROUND: Through an Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) initiative to tackle excessive hospital outpatient waiting times, 996 patients referred to the Ophthalmology Outpatient Department (OPD) of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH), Eccles Street, Dublin 7, Ireland, were outsourced to a community medical eye clinic (CMEC) for consultation with specialist-registered ophthalmologists.

AIMS: The study aims to determine if patients referred as routine to the OPD department could be managed in a community setting.

METHODS: 996 patients were reviewed in the CMEC, and their data was collected and placed into a spreadsheet for analysis.

RESULTS: 61.2% of patients referred to the OPD were fully managed in the community clinic, and 34.9% required ophthalmic surgery in hospital.

CONCLUSIONS: By facilitating direct listing of some of the surgical patients to the hospital theatre list, 89.8% of the 996 referrals received treatment without needing to attend the hospital outpatients department.