What this service does

The team in this service treats the tissues surrounding the eye ball, including the eyelids, extra-ocular muscles, socket and tear system.

Conditions treated by clinicians in this service include: eyelid lesions or lumps; eyelid cancer; watery eye; droopy eyelids; in-turning eyelids; misdirected eye lashes causing corneal abrasion; thyroid eye disease; orbital tumours and fractures; and facial and lid tics (for example, blepharospasm).

Consultants who work in this service: Mr B Parkin ( including orbital ), Miss C Marsh

Specialist nurse: Karen Roque

How do I make an appointment with this service?

You should see your GP or optician to assess your condition.  If he or she decides that your eye condition needs to be investigated by more specialist staff, they will arrange for you to have an outpatient appointment. If you choose to be treated at Bournemouth Ophthalmology Department, we will send you a letter confirming the date, time and location of your appointment with us. 

Other useful contacts

For treatment for urgent, sight-threatening problems and for issues that cannot wait for a routine appointment, your GP can refer you to our Eye Emergency department in Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

If you have already been referred to the unit, you can also get information from our secretaries who work with the Oculoplastic consultants

Patient information leaflets

Oculoplastic conditions

Outpatient appointments

If your GP or Optician decides that your eye condition needs to be investigated by more specialist staff, they will arrange for you to have an outpatient appointment with us. We will send you a letter confirming the date, time and location of your appointment with us. 

Please read this letter carefully to make sure you have understood all the details.  It is especially important to note the location of your appointment. (Please note: Not all appointments are at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital) Wherever possible, we will try to ensure that you are seen and treated close to where you live.

The tests we complete at most eye appointments mean that you are very unlikely to be able to drive yourself home. If you require eye drops to let us examine the back of your eye these will dilate your pupil and blur your vision for a few hours.  If you plan to travel by car, you will need to arrange for someone to pick you up after your appointment or make alternative travel arrangements.

Cancelling or changing your outpatient appointment

You can cancel or change your outpatient appointment by calling us as follows:

Please call the Appointments Team on 0300 019 4740

To help us deal with your request as quickly as possible, please provide the following information when making your cancellation or change request:

• Your full name
• Your Hospital number (this can be found on your appointment letter) or date of birth
• A contact telephone number
• The date and time of your original appointment 

If you cannot attend your appointment for any reason, please let us know as soon as possible, we can then offer the appointment to someone else. 

If you fail to attend your appointment and do not notify us in advance, you might not be automatically issued with a new appointment and could have to return to your GP to make a new appointment with us. 

Our Locations

We run clinics and provide surgery at various local departments, but please note not all services are available at all sites.

• Bournemouth - Royal Bournemouth Hospital, Castle Lane East, Bournemouth BH7 7DW
• Poole - Poole Hospital, Longfleet Road, Poole BH15 2JB (Outpatients Clinic 2, Pink Zone)
• Christchurch – Christchurch Hosptial, Fairmile Road, Christchurch BH23 2JX
• Wimborne -  Victoria Community Hospital, Victoria Road, Wimborne BH21 1ER
• Swanage – Swanage Hospital, Queens Road, Swanage BH19 2ET
• Blandford – Blandford Community Hospital, Milldown Road, Blandford Forum, DT11 7DD

What to bring with you

We suggest that you bring the following items with you to your outpatient appointment:

• Your appointment letter
• Medicines or eye drops in correctly labelled containers or a copy of your prescription from your GP listing all your medication
• A note of any allergies
• Your current glasses and/or contact lenses (and glasses prescription, if available) including any cases, storage containers and solutions.
• Sunglasses – some patients find these useful after they have had drops put in their eyes

The team in this service offers a full range of treatments for children’s eye conditions, and adult ocular motility disorders both in our dedicated Eye Unit at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and in other community locations.

Who are we?

Our team consists of 4 Paediatric Ophthalmologists (eye doctors who have a special interest in children’s eye conditions), Paediatric Nurses, Orthoptists and Optometrists (Opticians), as well as Paediatric Anaesthetists and an Eye Clinic Liaison Officer (for children with visual impairment needing sight registration.)

Orthoptics

Orthoptists investigate, diagnose and treat disorders related to eye development, eye alignment (e.g. squints) and problems relating to reduced vision. This may be due to amblyopia (lazy eye) and/or the need for glasses.

Orthoptists also assess abnormal eye movements, which may be caused by nerve palsy, injury to the eye or diseases affecting the muscles in the eye. Patients with eye movement problems often complain of experiencing double vision (diplopia).

Orthoptists may treat patients with prisms, eye exercises or patches. They are autonomous practitioners who also work alongside Ophthalmologists and Optometrists.

We are based at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, but also offer a range of Orthoptic outpatient clinics at Poole, Wimborne and Swanage hospitals. We also provide:

• Inpatient assessment of patients on the Stroke Unit and dedicated outpatient Stroke clinics (Royal Bournemouth and Poole Hospitals only)
• School Vision Screening for all children in Reception Year in state and independent schools in Dorset

Orthoptists must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) to practise.

Head Orthoptist and Optometry Service manager: Julie Dowdney

Orthoptic Department Secretary: 0300 019 4422

Optometry

Hospital optometrists (opticians) have an extended role compared to community or high street optometrists. They provide specialist refraction (test for glasses) and contact lens services, as well as an increasing role working in specialist clinics alongside ophthalmologists and other medical professionals.

At Royal Bournemouth Hospital our services include:

• Refraction and ocular assessment for children referred from school screening, GPs or community optometrists.
• Contact lens fitting service for medical and therapeutic need. This might include when vision cannot be improved with spectacles or for pain relief. The types of lenses we can fit include: RGP (Rigid Gas Permeable), Soft, Cosmetic, Scleral and Hybrid lenses.
• Working alongside ophthalmologists to assess and determine management plans for patients with conditions including: Age
• Complex refraction clinics to determine optimal spectacle prescription and vision.

What conditions do we treat and manage?

Our children's services cover all major types of eye condition. The most common conditions that we assess and treat include squints (strabismus - an eye that wanders or does not move exactly with the other eye) lazy eye (amblyopia), and refractive errors (a need for glasses)

We are also able to assess and diagnose children’s eye disease for instance cataract, glaucoma, and retinal or genetic problems. We also see children with eye lid and tear duct problems and allergy related conditions.

We screen premature babies on the Neonatal Unit at Poole Hospital for Retinopathy of Prematurity. We are often asked by Paediatricians or Geneticists to ‘screen’ the eye for problems that may occur with other medical conditions such as Neurofibromatosis Type 1 or Down’s syndrome.

We have strong links with tertiary referral centres such as Southampton, Oxford and Great Ormond Street in London. If your child is found to have a complex or rare eye condition, then we may need to refer your child to a national specialist centre. For many of these children, we then subsequently provide “shared-care” with these tertiary sites.

To find out more information about children’s eye conditions please click here (link to patient leaflets – just paeds ones)

Where do we work?

As well as providing clinics at our Eye Unit at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital we also run satellite clinics at Poole, Wimborne, Christchurch and Swanage Hospitals.

How do I make an appointment with this service?

If you have a concern about your child’s eyes or vision we would recommend that you contact your child’s GP or Health Visitor in the first instance. For older children you could also visit a high street/community optician. If he or she decides that your child’s eye condition needs to be investigated by more specialist staff, they will arrange for you to have an outpatient appointment with University Hospital Dorset. If you choose to be treated here, we will send you a letter confirming the date, time and location of your appointment with us.

What do I do if my child has an eye emergency?

Paediatric emergency eye conditions are dealt with at our Eye Emergency department. This provides treatment for urgent, sight-threatening problems and for issues that cannot wait for a routine appointment with your GPs. It is open during the day, Monday to Sunday. It is accessed via our telephone triage line (see below.) In the evening or overnight children can be treated for eye emergencies in our main A&E departments, currently based at Royal Bournemouth Hospital or Poole Hospital.  The main A&E is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

Eye Emergency triage telephone number: 0300 019 4181

For more information about our Eye Emergency Department please click here (link to EED page)

Our staff

Management team

There are many different staff roles within the Eye Unit.

Doctor

• Consultants (link to Consultant profiles) - A consultant ophthalmologist is a medically trained doctor who commonly acts as both physician and surgeon.
• Speciality doctors and Associate Specialists – These doctors have trained and gained experience in Ophthalmology but have not gone on to be a consultant. They have at least four years of full-time postgraduate training. These doctors usually work independently but are attached to a clinical team led by a consultant.
• Junior Doctors – Junior doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training. They have completed a medical degree and foundation training and have anywhere up to eight years' experience working as a hospital doctor. All junior doctors work under the supervision of a senior doctor.

Nurse

• Specialist Nurse – An Ophthalmic nurse specialises in the health of the eye. They work as part of the wider team to care for and treat patients with a wide range of eye diseases or injuries. They are often involved in minor operative procedures and eye injections.
• Staff Nurse – Work in all areas of the Eye Unit caring for patients, delivering pre and post-operative care, monitoring and administering medication.
• Paediatric (Children's) Nurse – The Paediatric nurses provide specialist nursing care for children mainly for those undergoing surgery.
• Nursery Nurse – Our Nursery Nurse looks after children and their families attending paediatric outpatient appointments, for clinical procedures or surgery, ensuring a child friendly environment.

Orthoptist

Orthoptists are Allied Health Professionals who are trained to investigate, diagnose and treat defects in eye movements and problems with how the eyes work together, called binocular vision.

Optometrist

Optometrist – Optometrists examine eyes, give advice on visual problems and prescribe glasses or contact lenses. Some have an enhanced role in caring for patients with stable chronic conditions.

Ophthalmic Technician

Ophthalmic Technician – Ophthalmic technicians carry out a wide range of tests and procedures, such as Visual Field testing and taking scans and images of the eye.

Health Care Assistant (HCAs)

Health Care Assistant (HCAs) - Health Care Assistants (HCA) are members of the team that support the medical staff and patients. Under the supervision and direction of qualified nursing staff they carry out a range of duties to care for and support patients and their families. Responsibilities include:

• Keeping departments and equipment clean and tidy
• Taking and recording basic observations such as blood pressure
• Helping patients to move about, if they have mobility problems

Administrative roles

• Admissions – The work of the admissions team comprises of all aspects of booking and planning for day case or inpatient procedures and surgery.
• Receptionist – Our receptionists will book you in for your outpatient appointment and check your contact details are up to date. They will also book your follow up appointment if is required within the next 6 weeks.
• Health Records – The Health Records team ensure that vital patient information is recorded, updated and stored accurately so that medical colleagues can access it at any time or place.
• Ward Clerk – The Ward Clerk support patients and clinical staff. They are often the first point of patient contact when visiting or contacting the department. Their role involves chasing up reports and inputting patient data.

Operating Department Practitioner (ODP)

ODPs are part of the multidisciplinary operating theatre team, providing a high standard of patient-focused care during anaesthesia, surgery and recovery.

Vision Screening Assistant

The Vision Screening Assistants are linked with the Orthoptic Department and deliver school vision screening to all Reception children throughout Dorset.

Eye Clinic Liaison Officer (ECLO)

The role of the ECLO is to signpost patients recently diagnosed with sight loss to emotional and practical support. They work closely with the medical and nursing team in the Eye Unit and local providers such as social services.