North London optometrist Imraan Amerat has become the first eye care professional to refer a patient using an online Urgent Referral for Wet Macular Degeneration form being trialled by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Amerat's referral was made to the Western Eye Hospital which has a fast response project for wet AMD. Project leader, Dr Richard Cheong-Leen, said the system was now available to all optometrists in the greater London area to make direct referrals. He urged optometrists to use the system so it could be perfected and, ultimately, rolled out nationally. 'The more people that know about this the better.'
Dr Cheong-Leen has been promoting the system and accepting comment through a blog, http://wehmacula.wordpress.com/ and the form is available on the NHS's secure systems. He said the take up of the system had been good with seven referrals made in a single week. As the system was email based, the hospital could provide direct feedback quickly to participating optometrists.
The system was launched on May 1 but Amerat said he discovered it a few days prior to launch and made a successful referral. 'It went live on May 1 but I used it three days before that. I stumbled across it while I was on the web.' He described it as more akin to an online form and very quick and easy to use with only six or seven fields.
Amerat said the online referral replaced the paper GOS 18 referral form and all of the delays associated with that. 'It is definitely much easier, much more simple and goes directly to where it is supposed to go.'
Amerat said it took away the delay introduced by patients or GPs not progressing referrals and hold ups in Primary Care Trusts' referral centres. 'Everyone should know about this'. He said that the system needed to be publicised so that more optometrists could use it and speed up the referral of patients.
