Innovative diagnostic eye clinics in shopping centres could significantly reduce waiting times for routine eye appointments, clinical research suggests in a first-of-its-kind study.
The research, a collaboration between Moorfields Eye Hospital, NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre and multiple UCL teams, including the Institute of Ophthalmology, was published in the journal BMJ Open. It evaluates the impact of a community-based ‘pop-up’ eye clinic set up in Brent Cross shopping centre in north London in September 2021, at the height of the pandemic, on reducing the post-COVID-19 appointment backlog amongst patients with stable glaucoma and medical retina conditions.
The researchers looked at data from 69,257 appointments attended by 39,357 patients with stable glaucoma and medical retinal conditions at sites across the Moorfields Eye Hospital network in London between June 2018 and April 2023.
During the pandemic, waits for NHS ophthalmology appointments rose sharply, as NHS England asked trusts to focus on urgent and emergency care. By March 2023, 628,502 people in England were waiting for appointments, with 27,260 of those patients waiting for a year or more, according to the Association of Optometrists.
The researchers found that patients seen in the Moorfields hospital network bucked the national trend – for each week that passed, the delay they were expected to face fell by more than a week (eight days) for the first five months the clinic was operating.
For example, in November 2021 patients with stable chronic conditions across the Moorfields Eye Hospital network were being seen an average of six months later than intended. By April 2022, following the introduction of the clinic, appointments were happening only two months late.
Previous research has suggested diagnostic hubs, where technicians perform routine scans during patients’ regular check-up appointments that are examined later on by a clinician, can reduce waits for outpatient appointments. In this innovative clinic, technicians performed the scans, with ongoing support from senior clinicians, saving clinical specialists' face-to-face time for urgent and complex cases.
This is the first study to quantify how much delays for NHS outpatient ophthalmology appointments were reduced by the impact of this service innovation.
Lead author Siyabonga Ndwandwe (UCL Research Department of Primary Care and Population Health) said: “Our findings suggest that community-based, technician-led clinics could play a significant role in reducing waiting times for patients with stable chronic eye conditions.
This study highlights a scalable model that could be adopted more widely to improve access and efficiency across the whole of the NHS.
Joint first author Dr Dun Jack Fu (NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology) said: “Our report draws on data from one the world’s largest specialist eye centres; Moorfields provides care across London.
“Our findings are highly relevant to the present day with millions of people facing long waits for routine NHS appointments.
“They are in the spirit of the government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England, which emphasises key shifts for a future-ready health service, including moving care from hospitals into communities, harnessing technology (the virtual review part), and focusing on prevention over treatment (preventing eyesight loss by timely monitoring).
“We believe that diagnostic hubs in locations such as shopping centres could be a game-changer.”
The study was part of the Healthcare Exemplar for Recovery from COVID 19 Using Linear Examination Systems (HERCULES) project.
21 July 2025