QUEENSLAND & NORTHERN TERRITORY DIVISION
(INCORPORTATED) ABN 54 009 657 265
58 ST PAULS TERRACE, SPRING HILL QUEENSLAND 4000
TELEPHONE: (07) 3839 4411
FACSIMILE (07) 3839 4499
WEBSITE: www.optomsqld.com
Email: see@optomsqld.com
Members are reminded that 2007/2008 membership fees are due and payable on 1 July 2007. It would be appreciated if all fees could be paid by that date please. You can pay by telephone if you wish by calling Marika at 07 3839 4411.
The OAA Practice Expo will be held at Rydges South Bank Brisbane on Tuesday, 24 July 2007 and all members are invited to attend. A fine 3CPD point seminar has been convened featuring Councillor Dave Foresto, member Rod Dixon and OAA NSW Executive Director Andrew McKinnon. Our largest ever trade exhibition features Alcon, Allergan, Bausch & Lomb, BOC, Capricornia, Carl Zeiss Vision, Coopervision, Essilor, Experien, HICAPS, Hoya, Hyperbaric Worx, Johnson & Johnson and Optical Manufacturers. Supper and refreshments are served and there is no charge! Members, this is a great opportunity to meet the next generation of optometrists and all your trade friends. Register at www.optomsqld.com or telephone Ruth at 07 3839 4411.
From an employment point of view QUT students and employers from around Australia have again embraced the Expo. The final list of employers exhibiting is Abernathy Owens, Blizzard Optometrists, Brisbane Eye Clinic, Tony Collivas Optometrist, John Davies Optometrist, Eyecare Plus, Eyelines Tasmania, Family Vision Optometrists, Helene Holmes Optometrist, Brian Job Optical, OAA Western Australia, OPSM Group, ProVision and Q Super Centre Optometrists.
Eighty QUT 3rd and 4th year students will attend the Expo – some 33% have already registered and listed eighty preferred practice locations. Half of the locations are in Queensland/NT with a stronger than usual preference to be located beyond Brisbane.
An article appeared in Toowoomba’s “The Chronicle” on 7 June about an elderly man who had to wait several years for cataract surgery at his local hospital. The reporter challenged the public health system with her opening question, “do the residents of the third world receive better ophthalmology services than those living in Toowoomba?” A local opposition MP even suggested that residents should contact the Fred Hollows Foundation for cataract surgery. Letters to the Editor have continued since with one cheeky correspondent suggesting that the patient concerned should pay for the service like everyone else.
The incident highlights the endemic problem in Queensland – the State is blessed with some of the nation’s finest ophthalmologists but there are too few of them and in the public hospital system they are required to see all patients with ocular conditions, not just those in need of surgery.
Peter Forster’s September 2005 “Queensland Health Systems Review” noted the under utilisation of optometrists in the public system, no waiting lists, the fact that they bulk bill under Medicare and that they have received post graduate education enabling them to use therapeutics medications and to prescribe those medications to patients. He stated in his report, “Given the extensive ophthalmology outpatient and elective surgery waiting lists, it is recommended that these possibilities be immediately investigated. Additionally, it would be prudent for Queensland Health to analyse presentations to emergency departments to identify whether the use of optometry services may ease pressure and consider implementing some or all of the above options.”
Currently sixty-one Queensland optometrists are therapeutically endorsed by the Board, including six from Toowoomba, and most of them have been safely prescribing for over two years.
Toowoomba based OAA Qld/NT President, Shannon Pugh, has written to the local Executive Director of Medical Services asking for an urgent meeting to outline how optometrists can make a significant difference to surgery lists by seeing patients who require diagnosis and monitoring, especially for diabetes, through therapeutic treatment and prescription, and foreign body removal.
At the Ipswich Hospital all diabetes patients are now referred to private optometrists for evaluation and monitoring and in turn the optometrists provide ongoing reports to the hospital’s ophthalmologist. This initiative resulted from the Association’s participation in the local “Better Health Partnership.”
(Dr Erwin Groeneveld advises)
“There have been access problems for public patients with urgent eye conditions. In hours, the best approach is to call the Senior Eye Registrar in the Eye Clinic at PAH, Mater, RBH or Gold Coast Hospital to discuss the case and then identify that person by name on the referral letter. Out of hours, speak to the eye registrar on call.
“If you are not able to contact the eye registrar then ask the hospital switchboard to put you through to the ophthalmologist on call. They are paid to be on call and responsible for the eye registrar’s work. Sometimes the eye registrar does not respond because they are in theatre with the Consultant.
“If you need to refer a private patient find out who is on call for the public hospital and contact that ophthalmologist directly for advice.”
(By Councillor Simon Hurwood)
In response to the “Doctor Death” scandal in Queensland, the State Government commissioned the Forster report, which was released in September 2005. This report provided a blueprint for improving eye care in Queensland by better utilising optometrists to allow ophthalmologists time to concentrate on more complex cases. Forster stated that there is “the potential for optometrists to diagnose and treat many urgent and non-urgent conditions and decrease waiting lists” and that “given the extensive ophthalmology outpatient and elective surgery waiting lists, it is recommended that these possibilities be immediately investigated”.
Has anything happened as a result of this report? Not much unfortunately. However we have seen some situations where common sense has prevailed, particularly in regional areas where hospitals are referring patients on their waiting lists to private optometrists so that assessments for cataracts and diabetic retinopathy can be performed more readily. This is a sensible and practical approach to reducing our waiting lists.
The Association is constantly on the lookout for similar situations where the skills of local optometrists can be used to improve the health of the population. So if you are in an area where hospital waiting lists are long, or if you just want to make a difference in your community, contact the Queensland & Northern Territory Division of the OAA and let us know. We’ll make contact with the hospital and see how we can help.
Thanks to our speakers, Drs Jan Lovie-Kitchin, Mark Loane, and Frank Howes, and Daryl Guest, Gary Page and Bashir Ebrahim for their time and dedication to optometry.
We had over twenty delegates from the North Queensland area attend Best of Queensland Vision of Sunday June 10 at the wonderful Southbank Convention Centre.
The presentations included topics on post operative eye care, low vision patient mobility, OCT and OHTS, and keratoconus. Throughout the day many questions and comments were discussed in the CPD sessions, and during the breaks the speakers made themselves available for more advice.
Our valued sponsors were Advanced Medical Optics, Alcon Australia, European Eyewear, BOC Instruments and Johnson & Johnson. Exhibitors Ian Ponton, Peter Jeffers, and Bob Elford were all on hand to give delegates information and advice from their respective companies.
After meetings all day delegates, speakers and exhibitors had fabulous drinks and dinner at the packed resturant Bennies at Southbank in Townsville
Thank you to everyone who attended the Best of Queensland Vision Townsville. We hope to see you at Queensland Vision 2008 down on the Gold Coast.
National Glaucoma Week will be held from 15th to 22nd July this year. Please support this important awareness week by displaying a poster in your windows and stocking Glaucoma Australia’s informative brochures.
To place an order please phone Glaucoma Australia on 1800 500 880
Recently, Gerard Menses, CEO of Vision Australia, presented local resident Maureen Davenport with a prestigious award for striving to consider the needs of people who are blind or have low vision in our local community.
The Making A Difference Award recognises the positive steps this inspirational woman has taken to ensure that people who are blind or have low vision are able to live life to the fullest.
Maureen, who has been vision impaired all her life, is the President of the Northside Low Vision Support Group in Nundah and established the City Support Group which has been meeting for the past seven years.
“Being a peer support volunteer makes me immensely proud. I know that I can help make a difference in the lives of other people who are blind or have low vision,” said Maureen.
Gerard Menses, CEO of Vision Australia, recently presented the QLD Supreme and District Courts with a prestigious award for striving to consider the needs of people who are blind or have low vision in our local community.
The Hon. Justice R.G. Atkinson accepted the award on behalf of the Courts for her outstanding support of Vision Australia client, Ms Louisa Young, who was employed as her associate in 2007.
“The overall commitment of the Courts to Louisa has been exceptional from the first time she was interviewed for the position”, said Roger Appleby from Vision Australia’s Employment Services. “They organised everything from the brailing of lifts, courtrooms and amenities to sighted guiding for staff”, Roger commented.
While Louisa is at the top of her class, she certainly doesn’t take her job for granted. “I consider it a privilege to have the opportunity to be a Judge’s Associate in the Supreme Court of Queensland. Justice Atkinson has always been very supportive and encouraging of me. I would really like to thank her and the other court staff for supporting me and for making work so enjoyable for me.”
The “Making A Difference” award recognises the positive steps the Courts are taking by going the extra mile to ensure that people who are blind or have low vision are able to live life to the fullest.
“Vision Australia works in positive partnership with Australians who are blind or have low vision to ensure they can better adapt to their surroundings and overcome the barriers they encounter”, said Gerard Menses, Chief Executive Officer Vision Australia.
