In December 2021, Moorfields Private Eye Hospital began renovations on its former Claremont and Wingpole clinic buildings to unite them as a more comprehensive and improved private eye hospital. This involved breaking through walls to connect them, as well as increasing consultant rooms by splitting many in two, enabling more diagnostic space to assess patients.
Located in West London, the New Cavendish Street Eye Hospital is an amalgamation of these existing foundations, which have been adapted to meet Moorfields’ needs. It now comprises 11 consulting rooms, 12 outpatient procedure rooms, five supporting nurse rooms, a laser eye surgery refractive suite, cataract operating theatre and its own pharmacy. Investments were made in new equipment for the growth in consultant rooms, laser eye surgery services and an operating theatre. Services are still ramping up, as the consultant rooms opened in May, 2022, and the operating theatre and laser suite has only recently started operating on patients, with only three or four lists under its belt.
Central advantages
Andrew Robertson, director of private care at Moorfields New Cavendish Street Eye Hospital, highlights that extending its services in Central London has opened up opportunities for attracting new patients and more ophthalmologists. ‘Some of our consultants from the City Road Hospital are doing extra clinics down here now, in addition to what they normally do,’ he explains. ‘While others are moving some of their clinics from there to here because they want to be more central-based in London, and they can do both their clinic and surgery in one place.’
While there are 11 consultant rooms, only seven consultant ophthalmologists practise in residence currently but, with constant interest shown from ophthalmologists, Robertson is optimistic that it will reach full capacity soon.
But it does not stop there, as locating the private hospital in the West End is part of appealing to a wider market, the international market has become the next natural stepping stone. ‘People come in for treatment from the Middle East and Europe, from all over, and very much favour central London. I think having the presence here will increase that particular group,’ he adds.
While many international patients come through traditional pathways, rapport is being built with optometrists worldwide through Moorfields’ online webinars and conferences. Robertson says: ‘We have relationships with health offices, who fund the treatment of people from their countries, as well as with concierge companies who facilitate directing patients to certain providers. However, we put on virtual talks by our consultants as educational tools, where we invite optometrists to join us online, and we’ve had up to 1,000 people attend one talk from 32 different countries. So, while we don’t physically meet them, we’ve sort of got the relationship because they know of us as a centre of excellence for ophthalmology.’
Solving cataract backlogs
The main treatments at the hospital are refractive surgery, including laser vision correction and cataract surgery, says consultant ophthalmic surgeon, Associate Professor Alex Day. ‘We’ve got a brand new operating theatre on the ground floor with a [clean air filter] SurgiCube, as well as the latest microscopes. This is used for both cataract surgery and refractive lens exchange, as well as ICL surgery. Then, the laser vision correction in the laser vision theatre (pictured) is in the basement, and there’s a YAG laser capsulotomy, which is another cataract procedure exasperated by the pandemic.’
Robertson recognises that, while Moorfields has led cataract drives on the NHS side, the most important part of addressing cataract waiting lists privately is through building relationships with optometrists. Moorfields has built a business development team with optometry relationship managers, which often coordinates with multiples. He says: ‘That has to be our number one priority and we’ve done an awful lot of relationship building in the past two years. We have relationships with groups like Specsavers and Boots Opticians, but we also go and see the individual optometrists in the area.’
He emphasises the use of shared care as part of ensuring cataract surgery waiting lists are effectively managed, with referrals going to consultants, on to surgery, and then back to the optometrists for aftercare. ‘They’re all part of the same patient pathway. Optometrists should be largely involved in the care of the patient, with no barriers between the ophthalmologists, the consultants and the optometrists. Our job in many ways is about bringing those parties together for the benefit of the patient and facilitating connections with our specialists.’
Patient choice
Prof Day believes that one of the main aspects that makes the new private hospital stand out is the latest equipment. The hospital offers four laser eye surgery treatments, including Lasek, Lasik, TransPRK and Smile (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction), enabling them to provide more choice for patients. He says the main hospital offers TransPRK and Lasik surgery because they do not have a Visumax there. ‘We have all the latest equipment, so we can offer the latest treatment here, and there’s a higher take up of Smile now. There’s the Zeiss Visumax and the Schwind Amaris 1050RS excimer eye laser, which is the latest model and is very fast and accurate.
‘Each laser treatment has certain advantages over others. One of the main ones is TransPRK, a fully automated, flapless treatment,’ Day says. ‘Lasik is the most common form of laser vision correction, and has a very fast recovery.
We also offer Smile, which is thought of like keyhole Lasik, so instead of a new technology, it’s a new method of treatment, and it’s been around now for about 12 to 13 years.’
Some are more limited than others, explains Day, as in TransPRK the whole surface has to heal, resulting in slower healing and visual recovery and patients may have quite a bit of discomfort while the epithelium heals over the first few days. However, Lasik has a faster recovery because only a little horseshoe-shaped flap is lifted to make laser corrections.
‘The main advantage of Smile is it leaves the cornea in a stronger way, there’s no flap that can be dislocated, and as a little disc tissue is removed deeper from inside the cornea, the corneal nerve reflex [blink reflex] is preserved so there’s less post-operative dry eye,’ he adds.
Future plans
Moorfields New Cavendish Street Eye Hospital will continue to grow and prove its worth to the overall business. Robertson hopes to bring the A&E emergency services to the facility, which is currently only offered at its main City Road Hospital. He concludes: ‘Moorfields Private’s financial surplus is re-invested into Moorfields Eye Hospital to support NHS patients and services. The trust NHS patients will benefit so much from private and it’s really important that people understand we’re not lining the pockets of shareholders, the money goes straight back into the trust for patient care and eye care research. We will always evolve because consultants come in and new treatments get developed. We need to be right at the forefront because that’s what Moorfields’ reputation is about, so we have to keep investing.
‘One of our other best ways of engaging is peer-to-peer education. So, we will be doing more face-to-face events and webinars because there’s nothing like bringing the optometrists together with the ophthalmologists.’