First cataract surgery patient at the ACES Newcastle clinic, Pauline from Wallsend, centre.
Community eye care provider, Anglia Community Eye Services (Aces), has won approval to provide vital services including cataract surgery for NHS eye care patients in Newcastle.
The St Nichola Street clinic would help reduce the cataract surgery backlog, with patients at the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust regularly waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatments.
To date, Aces ophthalmic treatment centres, which typically treat cataract patients within four weeks from referral, have also been launched in Exeter, Birmingham, Manchester and Dartford.
Stephen Hannan, clinical services director at Aces, said: ‘This partnership has been instrumental in helping patients across the country to get the visual care they need.
‘The backlog for NHS cataract surgery is one of the biggest challenges facing the sector, and this new contract will enable us to do even more to help reduce it.’
The Aces Newcastle clinic treated their first cataract surgery patient, Pauline from Wallsend, within six weeks of her pre-assessment appointment. 'The team at St. Nicholas Street clinic made me feel totally at ease and allayed all my prior concerns and anxieties about getting surgery. I really can’t describe how much my vision has improved, it’s beyond belief,' she said.