Eye doctors’ complaints fall on deaf ears

The head of ophthalmology at a major Sydney children’s hospital says he fears kids with treatable eye conditions are going blind.

The clinic had a waiting list of more than 500 children who were waiting 18 months to two years for an appointment.

The head of ophthalmology at one of Sydney’s major children’s hospitals says he fears children with treatable eye conditions are going blind while they wait up to two years to see a doctor because his department is so severely under-resourced.

The concerns, which have been repeatedly raised and ­ignored for the past decade, have emerged amid a furore over ­resourcing — particularly for card­iac services — at the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick, in the city’s east.

Many senior doctors believe resources are being shifted to the rival Children’s Hospital at Westmead, in Sydney’s west.

Randwick-based ophthalmologists decided last year that the ­resourcing problems in their departm­ent were so dire, the Lions Eye Clinic for Children at the Randwick hospital could no longer safely treat new patients.

In late September, staff wrote to new patients and referring doctors advising them their appointments had been cancelled.

“Unfortunately, after many years of understaffing, the clinic cannot reliably provide adequate paediatric ophthalmic care to a level considered minimum stand­ard for a developed country,” the letter said. “The situation has reached the expected and forewarned clinical point where too many short cuts are risking ­patient safety.”

The Australian understands the decision was made after three cases occurred in which serious eye conditions were almost missed. The paediatric ophth­almology department head ­Kimberley Tan told The Australian the clinic had a waiting list of more than 500 children who were waiting 18 months to two years for an appointment.

He said the problems had not been addressed since the letter was sent five months ago and the clinic was still not booking ­appointments for new patients on the waiting list.

“We are really worried that children are going blind unnecessarily with treatable diseases that should be picked up within an acceptable time frame,” he said.

The clinic, which opened 10 years ago, was funded in part by donations of more than $1 million from Lions clubs.

Dr Tan said resource shortages in his department were identified 10 years ago and a business case was presented in 2009 to hospital administrators for more staff.

But staff numbers had not been increased and since then, demand had increased substantially. He said the department needed ­another three or four full-time ­orthoptists and another ophthalmologist to cope.

Ophthalmologists at the clinic were currently working double the hours they were paid for, he said. Appointments were also being double and triple booked to try to squeeze in urgent cases. This meant patients at the clinic were regularly forced to wait three or four hours for their appointments, which caused difficulties for many families, he said.

Dr Tan said he feared the ­resourcing issues meant the department would also lose its ­accreditation for training.

As revealed by The Australian yesterday, doctors have outlined numerous cases in which they ­believe the health of critically ill newborn babies has been risked because they were transferred, in unstable conditions, to Westmead, 42 kilometres away.

The cases related primarily to the lack of cardiac services at Randwick. However, doctors said the problems did “not apply only to the issue of neonatal and paediatric cardiothoracic surgery”.

“Another extremely preterm infant was directed to travel to [the Children’s Hospital at Westmead] for urgent retinal surgery as the equipment at Randwick had not been kept up to date although the procedure has been performed here in the past,” a letter outlining the cases said.

A spokeswoman for the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick said a number of new ophthalmology patients “were sent an unauthorised letter late last year, cancelling their appointments without the knowledge of the hospital”. Once the hospital became aware of the letter, it contacted the patients and rescheduled the appointments and all had “now been cared for”, she said.

She said the budget for paediatric ophthalmology services at Randwick had increased 46 per cent since 2011-12 and an “in-depth review” was ordered after the letter was sent.

“Recommendations from that review were received last week and are currently being reviewed,” she said. “It should be stressed that all children with urgent or life-threatening eye conditions are identified and seen in the ophthalmology clinic as a priority.”

However, Dr Tan said no new staff had been appointed since 2011 and he was unsure how the extra money had been spent.

The administration of Sydney’s two children’s hospitals was merged in 2010. Many Randwick-based doctors are deeply unhappy with the arrangement, which they believe has favoured Westmead.