RANZCO NZ chair, Dr Brian Kent-Smith lending a hand at Counties Manukau

Answering a plea for help, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) is running a series of eye care “mega-clinics” at Counties Manukau (CM) Health to ensure high-risk patients are seen. The clinics are being run in conjunction with CM Health’s ophthalmology department at the Manukau SuperClinic to address a backlog that is part of a national problem.

This issue was highlighted in 2016 by RANZCO, frustrated by the previous government’s lack of action and rising concerns patients were suffering irreversible blindness because they couldn’t get timely access to follow-up eye care appointments. Since then, RANZCO has worked with the government through an Expert Advisory Group of ophthalmologists, optometrists, ophthalmic nurses, orthoptists, district health board (DHB) managers and consumer representatives, to advise on how to address the problem and to assess progress by DHBs.

Soon after RANZCO made the problem public, the Ministry of Health established a $2 million fund to help DHBs reduce their waiting list backlog. While there has been significant progress in many DHBs, with additional funds used for locum deployment and service improvements, a number of DHBs are still working to achieve their targets and clear the backlog, said RANZCO in a statement.

One of those struggling to clear its backlog is CM Health which has now signed a memorandum of understanding with RANZCO to continue service improvements in its provision of eye care and has accepted the help of out-of-district ophthalmologists to clear backlogs.

“It is great that Counties Manukau DHB has taken us up on that offer. It shows how committed they are to ensuring their patients get access to the specialist care they need,” said Dr Brian Kent-Smith, RANZCO New Zealand branch chair.

Under the MoU, CM Health has also committed to a number of system improvements which includes implementation of RANZCO’s Age-related Macular Degeneration Guidelines (released in New Zealand in May), drawing upon clinical evidence to establish nationally accepted, standardised referral and treatment protocols.

CM Health has also committed to the implementation of an acuity index, for prioritising follow-up appointments, and continued support and involvement in the Auckland Regional Ophthalmology Plan, which is a review to rationalise ophthalmology services across the three Auckland DHBs.

The first CM Health mega-clinic took place on Sunday 13 May after the RANZCO NZ 2018 conference (see more on this and related stories in July’s NZ Optics). At the time of going to press, three more clinics were scheduled to take place on 26 May and 9 and 23 June.