Top surgeons in the UK announced…and we’re number one
What is the most important characteristic in choosing a cataract Surgeon?
Bedside manner? Absolutely that’s important.
Patient communication and care? Yes, this is essential or you will lose confidence in your surgeon.
Cleanliness of hospital? More so now than ever! Aftercare? Certainly. Without good aftercare patients feel abandoned at an incredibly vulnerable stage of their treatment.
Undoubtedly it is hard to pin point one aspect of care that is more valuable than all the others. That’s because surgery is a complex experience with many equally important and essential facets of care. But an often overlooked, misunderstood quality consideration of care is the volume of procedures carried out by a surgeon.
A report recently released in Great Britain by The Private Health Information Network (PHIN) provides essential reading for anyone considering cataract surgery. PHIN tracks the activity that takes place in the private sector and provides quality governance for private healthcare. They also publish performance and fee information to ensure there is transparency in private hospital and private consultant surgeon performance.
PHIN have recently released data regarding the number of cataract produces carried out each year. The reason this figure is important is that surgical volume equals practice and experience and hence safety and quality. The old adage ‘practice makes perfect’ explains it well. In cataract surgery, high volume cataract surgeons have lower complication rates. There is a significant variation between the complication rates of surgeons across the U.K. but not many patients know to ask. Vision Scotland consultants currently have complication rates which are ten times lower than the UK average. The benchmark figures for all surgeons across the U.K. is one complication in every 70 patients, compared to Vision Scotland where complications occur in only one patient out of every 700. In short, Vision Scotland surgeons perform approximately ten times as much cataract surgery as the average eye surgeon, and have a complication rate ten times lower.
Mr Ross is now ranked by PHIN as the number one cataract surgeon out of 600 UK cataract surgeons. He said “PHIN provides our patients with transparency so they can make informed choices about the surgeon they would like to see based on how experienced they are. I’m delighted that as a profession we are now able to provide patients with independent third party statistics which allow them to choose between a surgeon who carries out 2000 cataract extractions each year versus a surgeon who may only come across one cataract every couple of months”.
He added ‘the real advantage of an experienced cataract surgeon is that we’ve seen nearly everything that can happen during surgery. Experience allows us to perform comfortably while under pressure and to respond effectively and calmly when the unpredictable arises. Ideally, when looking for a surgeon to remove your cataract, you want someone who has dealt with numerous complex cases, is able to think on their feet and make the right decisions. Complications do happen, but rarely result in poor outcomes is managed well.
Vision Scotland carries out over 3000 cataract surgeries across Scotland each year. Many of our patients travel from England and further afield to be treated by our experienced and safe surgeons, Mr Jonathan Ross and Mr Sanjay Mantry. Between them they are number one and number two in Scotland for the PHIN ranking of cataract surgeries performed in the past year. They are also number one and number three across the whole of the U.K.
Mr Mantry said “some surgeons may not have submitted their data or may have chosen to restrict it their volumes. That means there may be surgeons who have carried out higher volumes who have chosen not to disclose these numbers publicly.
Mr Sanjay Mantry continued “either way, this report gives credence to how hard we work. Our practice works closely with local optometrists to make sure the care we provide is joined up from optometrist referral through to surgery and then back to your optometrist for your final check up. No one is lost in the system. We also invest heavily in an ongoing education programme which attracts over 600 optometrists each year. We are the only organisation in Scotland who provides each patient with an individual, named and dedicated patient care manager who is available at every step of their journey. We’re often dealing with nervous and sometimes confused patients. A ‘one size fits all’ approach just doesn’t work for them and can make the whole experience much more stressful than it ever needs to be. Our service in Scotland is unique. It places the patient at the heart of everything we do.”
