News

New state-of-the-art ophthalmology suite for eye injection patients

Team picture injection suite

Kettering General Hospital has set up a £250,000 state-of-the-art one-stop ophthalmology suite for patients who need injections in the eye.

The new suite will benefit about 1,400 patients a year who need injections in the eye to combat conditions that affect vision and can lead to blindness.

It is located at Nene Park Outpatients Centre, near Irthlingborough, and will serve eye patients in the north of the county.

It will mean patients don’t have to go to Kettering General Hospital to have their procedure in an operating theatre – or make repeat visits to hospital - but will have a quick and easy one-stop visit to the specialist suite.

Kettering General Hospital’s Clinical Lead Ophthalmology Jayshree Menon, said: “Developing an ophthalmology suite instead of using operating theatres for these procedures is the way forward for these kinds of procedures.

“It frees up the hospital’s operating theatres for emergency and waiting list procedures and enables eye injections to be delivered to the same standard in a purpose-built suite which has an air exchange systems similar to those used in operating theatres.

“It will also, over the longer term, enable us to reduce waiting times for these procedures and reduce the need for repeat visits to hospital because of a lack of theatre availability.

The suite will be used to treat conditions like macular degeneration (an eye disease that blurs central vision) and diabetic retinopathy (where the centre of the retina becomes leaky or blocked) using injections of medications designed to prevent or reverse further degeneration. Patient at new injection suite

Patient welcomes new service   

One of the first patients to experience the new injection suite at Nene Park has welcomed the service and said how quick and easy it was.

Michael Knighton, 61, from Burton Latimer, had his eye injection on January 7 for diabetic macular oedema – a condition which affects the central sharp vision.

Mr Knighton, who works in the leather sector of car manufacture, said: “Attending Nene Park  was quick and easy with free parking.

“The overall experience itself was very similar to having my injection in hospital – where I have had 19 injections so far over the last two years.

“It is mostly the same people looking after you, just in a new location, so you feel quite comfortable.

“Your vision is tested first in the tunnel room first and then you have numbing eye drops to prepare you for the injections themselves which for me was for both eyes.

“It is very good, I didn’t feel a thing this time and I was very pleased with the service.”

Ophthalmology Nurse Specialist Trina Cherry is one of two nurses who deliver the injections. She said: ““Having these injections is very important for our patients and they are known as high-impact interventions because they can slow down, and in some cases reverse, the progress of certain eye problems. This enables the patients to maintain their quality of life for as long as possible.

“The injections are delivered by a specialist ophthalmic nurse, registered nurse or doctor in the clean room supported by healthcare assistants with consultants and doctors available for advice.

“In addition to the injection clean room our new suite has a tunnel vision room – where we carry out eye tests similar to those you might have with an optician and a refrigeration area, where we keep the medications used in the injections.”

Patients will be referred to the service in the usual way via their GP and hospital consultant and will start to receive appointment letters to attend the new venue from this week.

On arrival at Nene Park patients will check in, have vision tests, and then have their procedure which in most cases will last no more than 20 minutes.

Patients cannot drive after having the procedure – because of blurred vision – so they need to be supported by a relative or friend or use public transport. This is something which is already the case when patients have their procedure at Kettering General Hospital.

The service will start by seeing 84 patients per week but build up to more than 140 per week in coming weeks.  

 

We have placed cookies on your computer to help make this website better. You can at any time read our  cookie policy. Otherwise, we will assume that you're OK to continue.

Please choose a setting: