Published on: 3 July 2024
The doctor who oversees services at the North East’s only dedicated eye hospital has travelled to Hong Kong to share how it has pioneered a way of working.
Ajay Kotagiri is a consultant at Sunderland Eye Infirmary and its Clinical Director of Ophthalmology for South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, so not only treats patients but also leads all its departments.
He has recently returned from a visit to Hong Kong Hospital. This saw him speak to its experts about the work of his hospital’s nurse injectors and Allied Health Professionals (AHPs). He also explained their role in its medical retina clinics.
Healthcare staff chat to Dr Ajay Kotagiri during his time in Hong Kong.
The visit was organised through a connection between the head of the Hong Kong Hospital and Sunderland Eye Infirmary’s Consultant Professor David Steel.
Prof Steel is also a Professor of Retinal Surgery at Newcastle University and has helped Hong Kong Hospital launch their nurse lead injection service and a research study.
During his visit, Dr Kotagiri, who is also the clinical lead for medical retina, presented details of how well the nurse injector service works at his own hospital at a Health Authority Conference.
He led a series of lectures, which were held at the conference as well as in the hospital itself. These also covered how ultrasound can be used to examine the eye and how different medications can have an impact on the eyes.
He also spent the following two days training their junior doctors and hospital administration team, advising them on how they could improve their systems.
Sunderland Eye Infirmary set up its nurse intravitreal injection service almost 10 years ago. This is where medication is administered directly into the eye. It was one of the first to transform services in this way.
This means more than 95% of its 25,000 injections it carries out to treat eye conditions are led by nurses or practitioners.
The hospital’s nurses also help manage conditions such as macular degeneration.
Dr Ajay Kotagiri pictured showing healthcare workers in Hong Kong how to carry out a procedure during his visit.
Dr Kotagiri also used his previous experience as an advisor to Health Education England North East (HEENE) and his work to introduce Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) into Ophthalmology in the region during his visit.
He said:
"The unit over in Hong Kong wanted to hear about how widely we use our nurse practitioners. They hope this will help them as they prepare their workforce for the future.
"We shared how our successful service works as they look to launch something similar, as it will help them treat more patients.
"While I was there to help share details of what we do, I also learned lots about the way they work. We’re now looking to build on this relationship in the future, which means we’ll benefit from their knowledge in the future too.
"They are very keen to continue this partnership and would like to arrange virtual training sessions from our staff. They also want to send some staff both nurses and doctors over from time to time to our unit to observe and learn.
"One of the key things I learned about is how good they are at using technology, especially with their older patients. This was especially interesting as we look to use more IT systems instead of paper in the future."
Also during his visit, Dr Kotagiri took part in a discussion – known as a grand round - about the management of complex retina patients.
More details about the services at the hospital can be found by visiting the Sunderland Eye Infirmary page on our website.
