What to expect

Below is an overview of the consultation process for new patients at Centre for Sight. All visits to the clinic are led by our Fellowship Consultant Surgeon with specialist training in Cornea and Laser Refractive Surgery.

Prior to Arrival

Your information

After booking your appointment, you will receive an invitation to join our patient portal. This is a GDPR compliant communication method in which we can share details with you regarding your care. We will request that several details are completed prior to attending the clinic. To access your CFS Club account, visit: https://www.centreforsight.com/patient-access-portal.

Alternatively, Your Information forms may be posted out to you, to be returned to us prior to your assessment.

Contact Lenses

For Vision Correction appointments (Laser eye surgery, Laser Lens Replacement, Implantable Contact Lens), your contact lenses will need to be removed prior to attending your appointment. For soft contact lenses please remove 7 days prior, or hard contact lenses 4 weeks prior.

Driving

Due to the nature of the investigations carried out, we will dilate your pupils, and therefore they will not be of a legal driving standard after leaving the clinic. The majority of our patients’ eyes will return to a driving standard after 4-6 hours. Please arrange for a driver to collect you from your consultation.

Duration of your consultation

New patient consultations can take approximately 3-4 hours depending on the eye condition and requirement for investigations, so please make sure you have allowed enough time to get the most out of your consultation.

Your consultation

On arrival at your consultation you will be greeted by our friendly reception team. They will take some details from you and let our clinical team know you have arrived. For security reasons, they will also take your picture. You will then be asked to wait in our lounge where complimentary refreshments and Wi-Fi are available. Please let us know if you have any special requirements before you arrive.

A member of our highly trained clinical team will collect you from the lounge and take you through to our outpatients department. Here they will spend a few minutes explaining what is going to happen to allay any anxieties you might have.  You will be asked some questions about what has prompted you to book a consultation and what you’re hoping to achieve. If you have bought someone with for you for support they are welcome to join your consultation. It is perfectly normal to have a lot of questions and feel a bit nervous during the consultation process so we encourage you to ask as many questions as you want to any of the Centre for Sight team.

Once your clinician has clarified your reasons and needs for consultation, they will move on to some exploratory tests*. These include a minimum of: Vision testing (with and without glasses) at distance and near, refraction (check for power required for each eye), Corneal topography (measurement of corneal shape), intraocular pressures, corneal thickness and pupil dilation for a retinal examination. Depending on the reason for consultation and preliminary findings, further tests and investigations including ones for dry eye may be carried out. You will also be shown a series of short informational videos about your condition and options that may be recommended by your surgeon.

After these tests are complete your clinician will introduce you to your surgeon. The clinician will confirm the results of your initial tests and also your reasons for booking a consultation and also inform the surgeon or any concerns or questions you have. Your consultation with the surgeon involves a complete eye examination and evaluation of the test results. This will involve further questioning and a further discussion about you and your needs, more tests may well be required based on the surgeon’s findings. Your surgeon will provide you with information about your condition and also make recommendations on how this can be managed. Should a procedure be recommended, the alternatives, benefits and risks will be discussed to allow you to make a fully informed decision.

If you decide to go ahead with the procedure recommended to you, one of our patient coordinators will offer you a choice of appointment dates. To secure your preferred date for a procedure a non-refundable deposit will be required.

Insured patients

Please note Insurance companies typically do not cover vision correction consultations or procedures

All eye surgeons at Centre for Sight are independent providers. While the centre is happy to assist you with your insurance claims, you are ultimately liable for all fees incurred. To assist you in your claim, please contact your insurer ahead of time to obtain written authorisation for your consultation and procedure.

I understand that all my data, clinical and otherwise will be protected under GDPR. I understand my data may used for the purposes of quality improvement and advancement of eye care such as audit. This is a component of good clinical governance and measures will be taken to ensure my data is not identifiable.