Specialist Service Redesign Initiative

Shared Care Glaucoma at Royal Preston Hospital : Lancashire Teaching Hospitals FT

Historically, Preston had a traditional model of glaucoma care – All patients were seen by medics. Long waiting times and lack of specialist expertise in high risk cases caused blindness in several patients. The proposed model – a multi-disciplinary team approach, risk stratification of patients and standardisation of care.

Two specialist optometrists were trained to treat glaucoma patients and standardised protocols developed. Risk stratification of patients into high, medium and low risk matched case complexity to the skill level of clinician.

This approach transformed the service from a medical model to an efficient MDT model which is high quality, safe and sustainable.