Malcolm Moss MP welcomes faster treatment for eye patients

Malcolm Moss MP attended the launch, last Thursday, of a new outreach service at St George’s Medical Centre, Littleport. Patients from Littleport and surrounding areas who need specialist eye treatment or surgery can now get help closer to home, rather than face a round trip to hospital of up to 50 miles, following a link-up between The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn (QEH) and St George’s Medical Centre in Littleport.

The new ‘outreach’ service staffed by QEH consultants, nurses and other eye specialists will offer weekly Ophthalmology clinics and operating theatre sessions at St George’s Medical Centre. Later this summer an operating theatre suite is due for completion at St George’s Medical Centre, which will allow a full range of eye treatments to be carried out. One of the specialties of the new service will be a ‘fast track’ service for patients needing cataract operations.

Malcolm Moss MP who has worked with the Centre in the past said ‘this is a most welcome development in health care provision for my constituents. It will make life considerably easier for those who have had to travel long distances in the past to access eye health care and I fully support this new project.’

Previously patients on the Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk borders needing surgery or treatment for cataracts, glaucoma and other eye conditions face difficult journeys to hospitals in Cambridge, King’s Lynn or Bury St Edmunds. Under the new service they can be referred by their GP or optician straight to the medical centre in Littleport.

QEH consultant ophthalmologist Mr R J Pushpanathan said, ‘St George’s Medical Centre borders three counties – Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is a progressive, modern healthcare centre and as such our new service aims to meet the needs of the local population by bringing this service closer to where they live.’

A spokesman for St George’s Medical Centre, said, ‘We are delighted to be working with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn. For the Medical Centre to become an outreach centre for an acute trust, offering surgical services to the patient in-house, demonstrates that we are indeed a progressive, modern healthcare facility rising to the challenges of the new NHS. We hope that this will help ensure that our practice will be one that survives and continues to serve its local population.’