Most of us will have an eye condition at some point in our lives that needs some specialist treatment. Every day around 250 people start to lose their sight - that's one person every 6 minutes. Sight loss doesn't just affect older people. In fact 21% of those affected are between 0-64 (RNIB).
Our sight matters. It's one of our most important senses and it something many of us fear losing. That's why providing the very best care for our patients really matters to us.
We've started building a brand world-class Eye Hospital in Sunderland. This is a once in a generation opportunity for us to develop this regional centre for excellence and build on our excellent national reputation for care and research.
Our new Eye Hospital is set to welcome patients in early 2026. It will treat over 130,000 people every year from the north east, north Cumbria and beyond. If you or your loved ones need treatment from us in years to come, you will receive it at the new Eye Hospital.
What is the Vision Appeal?
We want to make sure that your care is the very best that it can be. That’s why we’ve launched the Vision Appeal. This will help us fund state-of-the-art equipment, facilities and research that will benefit our patients, visitors and staff for years to come.
Through the Vision Appeal we can invest in things that wouldn't normally be funded by NHS sources. The things that improve not only the treatment you receive, but also your experience of care with us.
We never underestimate the impact that each and every donation has, big or small. By supporting the Vision Appeal, you will be helping us create a legacy that will touch the lives of countless people for generations to come. Want to find out how you get involved? Read on.....
What we want to fund
Just like mobile phones, technology changes very quickly in the world of eye treatment. We have set our sights on a number of key pieces of equipment. This is over and above the kit that we will install as part of the new Eye Hospital.
See our shopping list below;
Flexible 3D eye scanning machine
These machines can produce highly detailed 3D scans of the eyes. They are used on patients who cannot be scanned using the equipment we already have because of various health reasons or disabilities.
Cost: Approximately £200,000 per scanner
Visual field testing machines
Specialist machines that measure the central and peripheral (side) vision. They are used to diagnose diseases of the eye, optic nerve and nervous system. Buying this additional machine will speed up patient assessments and improve care and experience.
Cost: Approximately £30,000 per machine
Motorised adjustable examination chairs
These electric couch style beds support our patients who are less mobile and provide more comfort. They help us carry out examinations and laser treatments.
We would like to buy 25 chairs for our new hospital.
Cost: Approximately £10,000 per chair
Ocular Motility Analyser
This machine tests eye muscles. It looks at eye position and movement. It can help diagnose a range of conditions, particularly in children, such as involuntary eye movements, strabismus (squint) and amblyopia (a lazy eye). Having additional machines will speed up the assessment of patients, reduce appointment times and the need for multiple visits.
We want to buy three of these for our new eye hospital.
Cost: Approximately £9,000 per camera
Thompson Charts
Eye test charts that are suitable for near and distance vision testing. The digital charts can show random letters of varying sizes. They also include digital images that can be used to test children’s eye sight.
We want to buy 40 of these for our new hospital.
Cost: Approximately £1,300 each
IT kit for teaching and research purposes
We want our new seminar rooms, boardroom and retinal unit to be equipped with the latest technology to support teaching and research across the hospital. This includes video conferencing equipment and links to theatre microscopes to support training.
Cost: Approximately £25,000
Simulation equipment
This is equipment that supports training for our staff by providing virtual reality experience and best practice training concepts. It uses technology to simulate real scenarios so we can learn without having to add extra stress ro our patients during their appointments.
Cost: Approxinately £100,000
Slit Lamps
These are microscopes that are used during an eye exam. The Slit Lamp provides a closer look at the different structures at the front and inside of the eye. It's a key tool that helps look at the health of your eye and detecting eye disease.
We want to buy 15 of these for our new hospital.
Cost: Approximately £21,000 each
Microscope for our new Emergency Department
This additional microscope will support us to see a growing number of patients coming into our Emergency Department with urgent eye conditions. It will help us to diagnose and treat a range of emergency conditions quicker.
Cost: Approximately £25,000
IOL Master
Specialist equipment that measures the size of the eye and calculates the power of lenses needed for cateract surgery. Having this additional equipment will improve the experience for our patients and mean they don't need to move around the hospital and have extended appointment times.
Cost: Approximately £42,000
YAG laser
A specialist laser that uses near infra-red light to treat conditions such as narrow angles and some common complications of cateract surgery. This equipment alows for precision treatment that can prevent certain types of glaucoma and cloudy vision after cateract operations.
This extra laser wil help us treat more patients and stop them from having to move around the hospital.
Cost: Approximately £25,000
Ocular Response Analyser
This specialist piece of equipment can accurately measure pressure in the eyes. It's mostly used to diagnose glaucoma - one of the most commonly seen conditions that we know will affect many more poeple in the future.
The additional machine will help us see more patients and diagnose and treat conditions linked to glaucoma much quicker.
Cost: Approximately £34,000
Waiting room furniture
We are looking to buy comfortable chairs and furniture to improve the experience of patients waiting for their care. This is above and beyond the standard furniture that the NHS would fund.
Cost: Approximately £60,000
Piano
We would like to fund a piano for the dining area. This will provide music and entretainment for staff and patients and we've been assured we have some budding Beethoven's amoungst our eye hospital colleagues!
Cost: Approximately £5,000
How can you support us?
There's lots of ways you can support the Vision Appeal
- You can donate directly to the appeal by clicking on the button at the top of the page. Or you can donate through our dedicated Vision Appeal donation page.
- You could chose to do some fundraising. This could be anything from organising a bake sale to running a marathon. No idea is too big or too small.
- You can tell your friends, family and work colleagues about the Vision Appeal and help them to support us too.
- You can leave a gift in your will, donate in memory of someone or give in celebration of a special event.
We're also hugely grateful for the support of individual philanthropists, businesses, organisations, grants, trusts and foundations who want to work with us to help shape the future of specialist eye care. If you want to know more please reach out to us at stsft.charity@nhs.net.
Want to learn more? or would like support in fundrasing?
Complete the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
