Emergency retinal referrals Office hours: The Ophthalmology Emergency Referral Service (ERS) at King's can be contacted by
telephone (020 3299 2601) or fax (020 3299 3738) and the patient will
be given an emergency appointment, usually the same day. Out of hours: Refer to the Accident and Emergency Department who will contact the on-call ophthalmology SHO/Registrar as required.
The is also a
dedicated surgical retina telephone hotline that is staffed 24 hours a day. The telephone number
is 07792 578 931. You will usually be able to speak directly to a
Vitreoretinal Consultant (myself of Mr Dominic McHugh), or an
experienced, post-CCST Vitreoretinal Fellow.
Urgent retinal referrals
I
aim to offer a fast-track referral service for potentially
sight-threatening retinal disease. I am in the hospital every weekday except
Wednesday, and on Wednesday my Consultant Colleague, Mr Dominic McHugh,
is available for an urgent Vitreoretinal opinion. If you wish to refer
directly to me please send a fax marked
urgent, for my attention, to 020 3299
3738. Alternatively contact my
secretary on 020 3299 3385 or at
gillian.williams@kch.nhs.uk. If my secretary is unavailable you may contact Carol Robins on 020 3299 4548 or at
carol.robins@kch.nhs.uk. Once I have received the referral I will triage immediately and arrange urgent review as appropriate.
Routine retinal referrals
For routine retinal referrals it is usual practice to refer via the
patient's GP. This has the advantage that patients arrive in
clinic with a summary of their general health problems and current
medication, but it is perhaps wasteful of the patient's and GP's time
and doubtlessly slows referral. On balance, I personally
feel that direct optometry referral to clinic is appropriate for
most cases. I am presently discussing this issue with my
colleagues to see if there is a consensus opinion in favour of direct
referral of routine retinal cases. I am also looking into
the cost implications for King's with payment by results.
Watch this space.
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