Since opening its doors in 2020, CHEC Watford has been undertaking a project to open ‘spoke’ clinics across the region. Spokes act as extensions of the hospital’s ophthalmology offering, available in community settings including GP practices. CHEC says this unique operating model increases equity of access to specialist healthcare for people who struggle to travel to the hospital site, and relieves local waiting lists for outpatient, elective and diagnostic services.
CHEC Watford’s eighth spoke has now opened at Rothschild Group Berkhamsted in Berkhamsted , completing the roll out. Clinics are also available at Elliott Hall Medical Centre in Middlesex, Chorleywood Health Centre in Rickmansworth, Highfield Surgery and Specsavers in Hemmel Hempstead, Poplar Grove Surgery in Aylesbury, Highfield Surgery in St Albans, and The Grove Medical in Borehamwood.
Faye Gibson, Regional Operations Manager for the South said: “CHEC Watford has consulted more than 52,000 patients and carried out over 32,000 cataract surgeries, but we know not everybody feels able to visit the hospital. This could be due to transport or mobility issues, time constraints with work, or simply the need to feel comfortable in more familiar surroundings.
“That’s why our community clinics – or our ‘spokes’ – are so important. They break down barriers and make it easier than ever for us to complete the healthcare journeys our patients are taking, speeding up the process and unlocking extra resources in local NHS services, too. Now we have eight community clinics up and running, we look forward to seeing the invaluable difference we can make in the region.”
In 2023/24, CHEC treated more than 372,000 ophthalmology patients with an average wait time of less than four weeks. CHEC hospitals span the country’s major towns and cities, and each hospital is supported by a minimum of three community clinics, placed in more remote locations, in line with where patients say access to NHS treatment is particularly challenging.
To learn more about accessing the ophthalmology treatments CHEC provides in partnership with the NHS, please visit www.chec.uk