Two eye surgeons who regularly perform surgery within Vision Hospital Group day surgeries, designed with ophthalmologists in mind, discuss why they go back time and time again, and why they would be happy to recommend the facilities to their peers.
“Often, young nurses want to work in the public hospital because it’s busy and chaotic, and they probably thrive on that. But actually, what you want for a routine operation is to have someone who’s done it 1,000 times before and knows it inside out.”
When Queensland ophthalmologist Dr Nick Toalster considers the advantages of operating at a Vision Hospital Group (VHG) day surgery in Brisbane, working with people who have done it all before, and many times, is high on his list.
Calm vs chaos. Quiet efficiency vs noisy, frenetic energy.
Dr Toalster’s cases can be complex. As well as the more straight-forward cataracts and pterygium procedures, there are more complicated corneal transplants and glaucoma operations.
So the last thing he wants is complexity in his workplace. For the sake of his own practice and his patients’ outcomes, nothing beats a simple, orderly space populated by state-of-the-art operating suites and staff. Doing something they have done time and again. Successfully – and all geared towards optimal ophthalmic surgery.
That’s what he gets at RiverCity Private Hospital in Brisbane, operating under the VHG banner. With 11 day hospitals across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, the group is a subsidiary of Vision Eye Institute (VEI), but operates independently.
This means VHG is agnostic when it comes to which ophthalmologists perform surgery in its facilities. As such, VHG facilities are becoming preferred locations for ophthalmologists not generally associated with VEI, like Dr Toalster.
It’s a similar experience for Dr Michael Wei.
He’s a general ophthalmologist at VEI who subspecialises in retinal work, dividing his time between various clinics and day surgeries in and around Sydney, whereas Dr Toalster is a consultant who spreads his work between public and private patients and facilities.
But both have a similar high regard for the quality of VHG’s staff and care, and what that does to bolster their own reputations and practices.
For Dr Toalster it means not only elevated safety and efficiency but also a smoother, more streamlined workflow.
“I probably get three or four cases done in an afternoon at the public hospital, whereas I can probably get between 14 and 15 done at RiverCity,” he says.
Dr Wei gets compliments.
“Many of my patients have commented on how well they were looked after and that they look forward to their surgery for their fellow eye,” he says. “That experience helps to relieve any anxiety they have.”
And then they tell others.
“They’ll tell other patients about what a great, positive experience they have had, they’ll tell their friends.”
Dr Toalster agrees.
“You know, the last thing that patients remember is always the last person that they spoke to and how caring they were,” he says.
“I think what drives patients is the referrers, so the people out in the community, the GPs and the optometrists and their friends and family that they talk to, coming back with positive stories and saying I went to such and such, and I had a good experience.”
That experience in the surgical suite is matched by efficient and streamlined service elsewhere, reducing the burden on surgeons.
“Staff at VEI clinics and the VHG day surgeries are very experienced and efficient,” Dr Wei says.
“Booking a patient into surgery is very easy and fast; I just have to tell my clinical staff and director of nursing that this patient needs surgery and they’ll take care of everything from then on.
“This includes billing, ordering lenses and any special equipment, liaising with the anaesthetist and answering any questions the patients may have about admission and discharge process, such as when they should eat and have their regular medications. The whole process is being taken care of.
“The staff also remind me to select the intraocular lenses for my patients ahead of the time.”
That leaves the ophthalmologist to focus on the surgery and ensuring the patient’s best outcome.
Another thing that helps with that, for both patient and practitioner, is the size and scale of VHG and the distribution of its facilities around the country.
Dr Wei is based in NSW. He does a lot of his consulting at VEI’s Hurstville clinic, with surgeries performed at Forest Road Day Surgery. But VEI also has clinics in Drummoyne, Tuggerah Lakes and Chatswood, located next to Chatswood Day Surgery, another VHG facility.
That means he can meet patients in locations that suit them, whether it’s for consulting or surgery itself.
“For a lot of us, we travel around in various clinics or locations, and we have different day surgeries to work in, depending on where the patients are based,” he says.
That’s particularly important for many of Dr Toalster’s older patients too.
“Part of the advantage of the group, which is obviously pretty big, is that you’re likely to have a facility that’s reasonably close to where the patient is,” he says.
His own consulting clinic is in the same building as VHG’s RiverCity Day Surgery in Brisbane.
“We are on one floor, and then I can say to them, when you come back on your days for surgery, you only need to go up to level one. And I think, particularly elderly patients, they find that very reassuring, because they don’t like the stress of having to find a new place and where to park and all of the rest.
“It’s nice to know that they can come and get surgery in a timely fashion with the surgeon that they choose in a location that they’re familiar with.”
Knowing that they will have access to the best, most modern ophthalmology equipment and technology gives peace of mind as well.
Dr Toalster says VEI day surgeries are equipped with all of the “big, expensive bits of equipment – things like the microscope, the cataract machine, the phacoemulsification machine”.
All the right things in one place, says Dr Wei.
“Some day surgeries may not have, for example, a Femtosecond laser which has many useful advantages, especially in cases like a dense cataract and Fuch’s Endothelial Dystrophies. So you have to send the patient to another location to perform the procedure.”
This can affect the outcome for the patient and their appreciation of the experience.
“But we have access to the latest technology and equipment all in one place in VHG day surgeries. For example, the Forest Road Day Surgery in Hurstville has Femtosecond laser for laser-assisted cataract surgery, Alcon Centurion Phaco machine with Verion Toric marking system and celling-mounted Zeiss Lumera 700 microscope which has excellent optics and red flexes.
Both believe that VHG is one of a number of networks offering very good equipment and facilities for patients and eyecare professionals.
But both also think that the group offers even more in a couple of unappreciated areas.
Dr Wei says that the group’s size can help it cater to a wider, more diverse group of patients.
“VHG has staff from many different backgrounds, and that means it can accommodate and actually reach out to patients from various racial or ethnic groups.
“For example, at Forest Road Day Surgery, the theatre and support staff can communicate in Mandarin and Vietnamese, which helps me give post-surgical instructions to many of my patients, sometimes without having to rely on their friends or family members to interpret.”
Dr Toalster appreciates another form of diversity.
He likes that VHG in particular is flexible enough to allow him to change plans, when needed.
“So if I want to do something a certain way, or if I want a particular bit of equipment, or I want to use a particular theatre, then they’ve always been super accommodating,” he says.
“They listen to what I want and look at how they can fit that in and say, ‘we’ll try and make that work’.”
Both are happy to recommend VHG facilities to other surgeons.
For Dr Toalster, it goes beyond the top-of-the-line equipment, experienced staff and other advantages you would expect from economies of scale.
It’s more than the research that VHG and VEI is often involved in, and the access to the latest technology being trialled.
“They’re willing to accommodate and they’re keen to have young, enthusiastic people that work and want to achieve good things together; it’s a collaborative approach.
“Ultimately, that’s what makes healthcare work.”
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