Hemel Hempstead, UK – Opticians can flourish by becoming primary care providers – by managing and monitoring hospital patients in a community setting – believe Heidelberg Engineering’s UK business leaders.
“You only have to look at the number of pop-up clinics around the country – in a wide range of specialties – to see that some healthcare trusts are challenged with the workload. Time is of the essence for AMD and glaucoma patients. We are urging optometrists to make contact with their local ophthalmology departments to find out what they can provide in terms of community services, to reduce the strain on over-burdened clinics,” said Kenny Boyle, Heidelberg Engineering UK Key Accounts Manager.
He warned that “hospitals will struggle to cope with demand – especially if Dry AMD pharmacology is approved. If patients do not meet the requirements for clinical treatment, they may get bounced back – High Street opticians need to have a superior diagnostic ability to review patient data and images – perhaps sometimes remotely,” he added.
The soon to be released upgrade for the SPECTRALIS OCT platform, HEYEX PACS* (Heidelberg Eye Explorer) is an image management and device integration software system which facilitates this shared care approach. This one central application – for Heidelberg Engineering’s and other companies’ ophthalmologic images – provides the facility to access data and images and to review and compare scans.
“Our new software launch follows the acquisition by Heidelberg Engineering last year of a specialist technology company which has provided data management services – mainly in the field of radiology – for 20 years,” said Tosh Vadhia, National Sales Manager.
“Secure, reliable and fast, it is a scalable system designed to meet the individual needs of independent and multicentre clinics – matching the Heidelberg Engineering ethos of providing a flexible, expandable business platform,” he said.
*HEYEX PACS is currently under development and not yet available for sale.
