Urgent care clinic

The clinic has been specially designed to offer care for patients who have urgent conditions, but who do not need to be immediately seen in A&E. The clinic is run by ophthalmologists and specialist optometrists and has been set up to improve patient experience.

Urgent care clinic referral form: Moorfields at St George's Hospital

What will happen at my appointment?

You will be examined firstly by a technician, and then by an ophthalmologist or specialist optometrist, who will perform the necessary tests, for example vision tests, to investigate your symptoms.

Your appointment will take place at the urgent care clinic on Cayton Street, near the A&E entrance at Moorfields Eye Hospital, City Road on the opposite side. Please see your appointment letter for further details.

We aim to complete all your tests within three hours. Once all of the tests are finished, the results will be discussed with you and a decision about your treatment will be made.

Following your appointment at the urgent care clinic, you will either be discharged, or referred to a specialist clinic at the hospital for further investigation and management as appropriate. Your GP will be notified of the outcome. You should continue to see your own local optometrist every one to two years for routine eye health checks.

Should I bring someone with me to my appointment?

During your appointment, we may use eye drops that cause your vision to become blurred for a couple of hours. During this time, we advise that you do not drive home from your appointment. You may wish to bring someone with you on the day to assist you home.

Your feedback

Your views are important to us. At the end of the appointment, we will provide you with a feedback form so that you can let us know what you think of the service.

Upon arrival to St George’s Urgent Care Clinic UCC

You will be directed to the UCC reception desk to register your details. You will then be asked to sit in the waiting area where you will be called to see a nurse (triage) for an initial assessment, which helps us determine how urgent your eye problem is and if it is vital for you to be seen today at the clinic.

If your local eye unit is one of the on- call hospitals (St Helier’s Hospital, Kingston Hospital, Croydon University Hospital) it may be more appropriate for you to be seen locally. Please inform the receptionist or nurse and they will try to help facilitate this.

If, after triage your condition is classified as non-urgent, you may not need to be seen today but one of the following options will apply:

1. You will be given or sent an appointment in our Primary Care Clinic (PCC) which is in the same outpatient department or to one of our specialist services. Our PCC treats patients with less urgent or more chronic eye problems.
2. You will be advised to see your GP or optometrist who can help treat your condition.
3. Your GP or optometrist can refer you to your local eye clinic.

If, after triage your condition is classified as urgent, the nurse will carry out a further assessment, after which a decision will be made as to which member of the team will treat you. You will then need to remain in the waiting area until you are called.

Please be assured that we do try to see all our patients in a timely manner and we appreciate your patience and understanding on this while waiting for treatment. Please do not worry about the order in which other patients are called, as we see patients according to clinical priority, not necessarily by their time of arrival.

 Please note that our clinic is a single specialty eye hospital and we can only treat eye problems. If you have a general health problem, you should attend St. Georges A&E department or your local general A&E department, or contact your GP.

Please take note of the following:

• There is limited seating space in the area and so if you are accompanied by more than one person, please be considerate to other patients.
• Priority will be given to children and patients who are generally unwell.
• Priority will be given to patients with potentially infectious eye conditions.
• If you are experiencing any pain, please tell the triage nurse or doctor who can give you pain relief.
• If you start feeling unwell while you are waiting, please tell a member of staff, who will ensure that you are assessed by our nursing or medical team and given the appropriate care.
• If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to approach any of our staff – we are always happy to help.

Facilities available during your visit

Pharmacy

Please take your prescription to the Moorfields pharmacy department. Our reception staff can guide you to the pharmacy which is next to our UCC clinic on the left side of the corridor towards the ENT clinic. The pharmacy is open Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm, and on Saturday, 9am– 5pm.

Refreshments

A water fountain is available in our clinic waiting area and there are a variety of facilities available in the main entrance of the hospital, where you can buy refreshments and reading materials. There is also a vending machine on the ground floor which you can access out of hours.

Toilets

There are toilet facilities available within the department. Please ask a member of staff if you require any assistance.

Parking

Parking is available opposite the St. George’s accident and emergency (A&E) department.