I was diagnosed with glaucoma in 2015 by optician. After numerous attempts over the years to get a referral to my local nhs eye dept they rang out of the blue yesterday to offer me an appointment next week (yhay).
I really want to get regular checks as my mother is blind from this and I have other eye problems including a replacement lens and a iris repair to complicate things.
So I wondered how often does the nhs usually check glaucoma?
And how long did it take you to get an appointment at an eye clinic for this ? as 6 years seems a long time especially when my mothers blind from this and I have an eye injury and previous eye surgeries that complicates things
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Tricia3
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As someone who has lived with glaucoma all my life, I find it disgusting that you were diagnosed by your optician and not referred for a hospital appt for 6 yrs, did you use any glaucoma drops in that time, from your post I suspect not, I don't know how long you'll have to wait for your first hospital appt, but hopefully not too long, I'm well established in the system, I was seen last October, told I'd be seen again in about 6 months, my hospital run behind with routine follow up appts, so I don't expect to go down until July, August time
Thanks Jenny,I paid for a private appointment to get drops prescribed as I knew these were essential whilst I tried to get on the nhs list but thats the cost of a short holiday (and I’m not working) so I really want to get regular nhs checks.
They did ring me out of the blue and say I could have an appointment next week which obviously I’m going for but before I do I wanted to have an idea what is normal before I go.
I think it really depends on what’s happening with your eyes as to how often you’re offered a consultation.
I used to have nhs appointments every 12-18 months when my sight was stable and before I needed drops as my pressure was on the high side of normal. Once I started on drops I decided to go private.
My mum also has glaucoma and her appointments have been anything from every few weeks (when she was losing sight and they were assessing if a new drops regime was working) to every 12 months. Also every frequency in between when things haven’t been stable.
Here in London it’s almost in your hands. I had checks maybe every six months then five cancelled apts (C19) so I finally wrote to Moorfields @ Nelson Clinic and they gave me an apt. Good thing I did as the drops weren’t strong enough. They just had me back to check drops were working. Good luck.
I was diagnosed with glaucoma 15years ago. As the pressure could not be lowered with drops I had a trabeculectomy on both eyes. In Cambridge my appointments have never been more than 9 months apart, as has been said before it depends on your need at the time. So can vary from 1 month to a year.
The hospital appointment consists of a sight test (each eye with your usual glasses), eye pressure, visual field test (tedious but necessary) and then the consultation. Addenbrookes hospital have now added an OCT scan which measures the thickness of the retina’s layers. Once you are in the system you should receive regular monitoring.
I have no idea why it’s taken so long, equally I’ve no idea why they rang up out of the blue with this appointment as it’s over a year since I last pushed. I used to ask for dr to refer me regularly up to then but I’d given up and thought I’ll make a private apt after this lockdown.
The optician had referred me to the dr, the first optician to detect glaucoma did pressure and field of vision test, because the damaged eye has a patch that I can’t see so the field of vision test has a weird (but very consistent) blank patch. That optician accused me of faking the test so I’d asked for a second optician to check a couple of weeks later and they’d written to the dr.
And as I type that out I’m starting to wonder if that first optician has put something in my records saying I faked the test 😱 I think I’ll get a copy of all my optician records and check, if she has and my eyesight has been damaged as a result I’ll be making an official complaint (I probably should have at the time, I was too shocked tbh)
Oh my goodness that’s awful to say you faked a test. So you really don’t know how it’s progressing. Poor you. Did you say you mum is blind from it. How long has your mum had no vision how long has she had glaucoma. This kind of thing shouldn’t be happening in the uk x
A few years, her vision has been slowly going for as long as I can remember. She is seen by Moorfields. Her sister also lost her sight due to glaucoma. I’m unsure how it’s progressing for me, I do have Xalatan drops that the private consultant prescribed. And without this appointment I was going to go back to him as I was anxious without any monitoring but I did want to be on the regular nhs monitoring as it’s really expensive to go privately. I’m really hoping this appointment means I’m now under the nhs for this.
I can imagine how worrying this is for you. How old were you when diagnosed. I really hope you can get regular treatment now with NhS. Please keep in touch. Do you have children are they ok. It’s so worrying x
To be eligible for an NHS sight test you, the patient, have to have a diagnosis of glaucoma, or be the parent/child /brother /sister of someone who has or had glaucoma and be aged over 40
Thank you for posting about this issue. When you visit the Optometrist and possible glaucoma is detected, you will be referred to a hospital eye department routinely. The referral time, pre pandemic could vary however you were usually seen within a few months. At this point, further testing is done (including visual fields, IOPs, and an assessment of the health of your eyes) and you meet with an Ophthalmologist who will discuss whether or not you have glaucoma. This is followed by your treatment options which include eye drops, laser, and surgery. Following this appointment you can be seen again in 2-6 months time. Once your glaucoma is stable and your eye pressures are within a normal range, you will likely be seen every 12-18 months on a long term basis.
It is very unusual it has taken 6 years for you to be seen by the hospital. In most instances when you attend you annual or biannual eye test in community practice and you still have not been seen in hospital, your Optometrist should refer you again. Thus making the longest referral time up to a year. I am however glad that you have been seen by a consultant as I believe you took the private route and now have an upcoming appointment under the NHS.
I was under the hospital for glaucoma monitoring from 1994 until 2013. At my second appointment in 1994 I had laser surgery and was prescribed drops in 2011. During this period I sometimes had appointments cancelled and rescheduled and sometimes waited longer than 12 months for an appointment.
So I would ring the Appointments Dept and they would then give me an appointment.
Then in 2013 because I was stable they transferred me from the hospital to Midland Eye Birmingham and they would come to Stoke where I live and do the glaucoma monitoring. I was seen regularly on the dot every twelve months. The results would be looked at by a consultant and if there were any problems I would get an appointment to see the consultant. This was a private company working for the NHS.
This was done because our hospital could not cope with the number of patients they were having to see.
Then in 2018 I was again transferred - from Midland Eye to Community Health and Eyecare where I am now seen regularly every six months in a local clinic. Again I am still, in effect, under the NHS but not directly under the hospital.
I don`t know if this is unique to our area but it`s a far better system than when I was under our local hospital because I know I will be seen when I should be.
I`ve no criticism regarding the hospital because the care I received from them was always excellent. I`ve also had a macular hole repaired and a lens replacement with them.
I would recommend to you that in future if you are waiting a long time for your appointment that you ring the Hospital Appointments Dept because I know that where I live they will sort you an appointment there and then.
So at the hospital today the dr grumbled at me that they hadn’t seen me before 🙄 I explained I’ve been going into my gp and asking for a referral every 6 months for last 5 1/2 years and last time was beginning last year after which I gave up. Dr shrugged and put me on 6 month recall. Pressure reading is at upper end of acceptable on these drops so regime may be changed at next apt but of course they have no history as such to go on except when I came into eye casualty a couple of years ago. The eye injury from 28 years ago and subsequent surgeries made it difficult for them to know what exactly is going on (so at least that meant they don’t expect the optician to be able to monitor). I am so relieved to be on their list and on 6 month monitoring. Thank-you to everyone who provided info and supportive comments it was much appreciated
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