Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH) in partnership with Clear Vision Surgical (CVS) announced today an exciting new initiative to increase access to cataract surgery This partnership will provide patients within Cambridge, North Dumfries and the Region of Waterloo access to care that has been impacted due to the pandemic. Not only will this new partnership help these patients needing cataract surgery, but it will help the hospital create more room for patients requiring elective procedures that need to be completed in the hospital.
“As we come out of the pandemic, our focus has to shift to our patients that had their elective surgeries deferred these past two years,” says Irene Harder, Director, Perioperative, Women & Children programs. “By moving some cataract surgeries into the community, it will free up surgery staff to do other procedures and reduce the time to get through our back log.” Priority, emergency, and cancer surgery cases continued to be performed during the last government order to defer elective procedures. Of the 1922 CMH cases that were backlogged (as of Feb. 4, 2022), 1337 cases were for cataract surgeries.
“I am so pleased with this new partnership. We are in a fortunate position to partner and do our part to improve access to health care,” says Mark Recine, Chief Operating Officer at Clear Vision Surgical. “This will not only help those needing cataract surgeries, it will help other elective procedures. It benefits our respective communities, ensuring people get quicker access to the care they need.”
“I am so pleased with this new partnership between Cambridge Memorial Hospital and Clear Vision Surgical. The timing is perfect, as cataract surgery wait times in our region are severely hampered and continue to rise. Clear Vision Surgical offers top notch services staffed by professionals trained in Ophthalmology so this will be a win- win for patients, CMH and the Ontario Government. Our team of Ophthalmologists applaud this pathway to care.” Dr. John Wilkinson Medical Director for Clear Vision Surgical.
The benefits of this new partnership include:
- Reduction to the backlog of cancelled cataract surgeries and elective procedures due to the pandemic
Opening up space and freeing up staff at Cambridge Memorial Hospital for other elective surgeries
Reducing the wait times for elective procedures
Adding more capacity to our healthcare systems
Both CMH and CVS have similar partnerships in place to help address backlogs. CMH recently partnered with Tri-City Colonoscopy Clinic to help address endoscopies. Windsor Regional Hospital partnered with Windsor Surgical Centre to help them get through their cataract surgery backlog.