- 27/01/2016
- Posted by: Mike Hedges MS
- Category: Press Releases
Mike Hedges AM WELCOMES SPECIALIST eye care services to be provided closer to people’s homes
A £400,000 investment by the Welsh Labour Government will help to move assessment and treatment services for people with wet-AMD, which can cause swift sight loss, out of hospitals closer to people’s homes in some parts of Wales.
Mike Hedges AM said… I welcome this extra investment in Eye Care Services through which services are provided closer to home. It can be difficult for people to get to hospitals if they have transport issues.
Four pilot projects will be set up in Gwent, Cwm Taf, West Wales and Powys, to move assessment and treatment services out of hospitals – doctor-led services in outpatient departments and operating theatres – and into local communities, where they will be delivered by optometrists and nurses, overseen by an ophthalmologist.
The pilots will ensure people are seen more quickly closer to home and free up time for hospital-based ophthalmologists to manage patients with the most complex conditions.
The investment is part of the Welsh Labour Government’s £40m primary care fund, which is aimed at reforming Wales’ primary care services to ensure the vast majority of NHS care is planned and provided in the community, closer to people’s homes.
Welsh Labour’s Deputy Minister for Health, Vaughan Gething has also approved a £105,000 funding package to up-skill eye care professionals to deliver these and other new services. This will enable each of Wales’ health boards to fund a number of optometrists to study for university-level qualifications.
The Welsh Labour Government’s primary care workforce plan sets out the importance of a skilled community workforce.
