In focus: Successful crossing into ophthalmology for AFTC

Unique, pioneering, unprecedented were just a few of the adjectives being bandied about in Newport last week. The occasion was the official opening of the Austin Friars Eye Treatment Centre (AFTC) by Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, Vaughan Gething AM.

In what is six months since the AFTC opened, the specialist eye treatment centre has reduced waiting times for assessment, diagnosis and treatment of people with age-related eye conditions, increased the numbers of people seen and freed up hospital time.

Perhaps more importantly patients have welcomed the centre which combines optometry and NHS nursing and ophthalmology in a single Specsavers practice in the town’s shopping centre. As Craig MacKenzie, optometrist director at Specsavers in Newport explained, this has a great ‘normalising’ effect on people’s conditions. They do not have to be sent to an alien, hospital environment, a drive away, to park and wait for hours to then go through many of the same tests that saw them referred in the first place.