An evaluation of the UK’s Covid-19 Urgent Eyecare Service (CUES) found it delivered a high level of primary care alongside a reduction in emergency eyecare department (EED) cases.
Primary care CUES, which allow patients to receive prompt ophthalmic consultations, including remotely, were monitored in Greater Manchester over eight weeks in the summer of 2020 during the UK’s national lockdown. Of 2,461 patients screened for eligibility, nearly 92% received a telemedicine appointment, following which just over half of those required a face-to-face consultation.
The most common hospital diagnosis for the accepted Manchester Royal Eye Hospital CUES referrals was uveitis (14.5%), followed by AMD (11.6%) and branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO)/central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) (10.1%).
Led by the University of Manchester’s Rahul Kanabar, authors concluded that although developed for lockdown, CUES’ capacity to reduce patient numbers attending secondary care acute services warrants it evolving into a long-term primary care service.
For more on pandemic eyecare, see www.eyeonoptics.co.nz/articles/archive/providing-an-optometric-dry-eye-service-through-a-pandemic/
