As Part of the trust’s RESET / RESTART strategy, it was important that services could resume as soon as possible following the lock down.
NMPCE were approached by Ophthalmology Outpatients to enquire if an extended breath protecting shield could be manufactured. This was identified as a way to reduce the risk of infection when conducting eye examinations using slit lamps and aid restarting of services.
The slit lamp manufacturer produced geometry that could be printed on a transparency and cut out with scissors (See fig 1).
However in practice this was found to be less than ideal leaving large openings and a more appropriate solution was required (see fig 2).
Figure 2 hand cut screen
It was found that although the equipment looks similar, there were in fact three different types of slit lamp in use, over four sites. This resulted in three different designs that are a wraparound pattern with no gaps present and provide increased protection for patients and staff (See fig3).
Figure 3 Wraparound slit lamp screen
The screens were fitted at the laser suite at the RVI, Newcastle ophthalmology centre and at the outreach centres, Fell Tower at Gateshead, Union Bra and Hexham General Hospital. To date there have been approximately fifty fitted with further requests from ophthalmology photography.