South Molton Eye Centre has marked the first six months of treating patients in Northern Devon since its opening in April. Now the £1.4m facility is looking at ways of boosting the numbers of patients it treats.

The centre was developed at the former renal unit at South Molton Community Hospital. This was made possible with a generous donation of £500,000 from the South Molton Hospital League of Friends.

It provides diagnostic services and treatments for people with new eye problems and people managing long-term conditions, such as glaucoma and medical retina.

The additional capacity and state of the art equipment provided at the centre helps to provide a more positive and efficient patient experience, complementing ophthalmology treatments currently provided at Bideford Community Hospital and North Devon District Hospital.

In August, the new facility was given the seal of approval by North Devon MP Selaine Saxby when she visited, calling it “an excellent opportunity to showcase the fantastic work being done by the health teams in North Devon and what we can do to support and alleviate pressure in our healthcare system”.

Patient feedback for the South Molton Eye Centre has also been extremely positive, with comments to the Friends and Family Test including:

• “A very quick, efficient services, everyone is really friendly and the is very clean”
• “Very happy with the service, definitely happy to return”.

Now the Trust wants more patients from Northern Devon to choose South Molton for their treatment, to reduce the amount of time they have to wait. Patients waiting to be seen for glaucoma or medical retina treatment will automatically be referred to the new facility.

For patients who may be concerned about how to get to South Molton, there are a number of transport options, including:

• An hourly bus between South Molton and Barnstaple
• Torridge Transport and Volunteer Service
• A number of community transport schemes – see https://ndvs.org.uk/ for more details
• Support from One South Molton and One Northern Devon
• Devon Carers
• Help with healthcare costs for eligible patients.