WAEH Community of Practice – Nurses & Allied Health Personnel | 29 October 2026
On Thursday 29 October 2026 the WAEH Community of Practice on Nurses & Allied Health Personnel took place, bringing together eye care professionals from across the globe to discuss the development, implementation and impact of nurse-led corneal cross-linking services. The meeting was led by Tendai Gwenhure, Senior Clinical Educator from Moorfields Eye Hospital (London, United Kingdom) and Diana Malata, Advanced Nurse from Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (Dublin, Ireland), with presentations from Diana Malata and Noel Binza, Cross-Linking Specialist Nurse at King’s College Hospital (London, United Kingdom), and a warm welcome from Maaike van Zuilen, global lead of the WAEH.
The session brought together participants representing Moorfields Eye Hospital (the United Kingdom), Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (the United Arab Emirates), Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital (Ireland), King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital (Saudi Arabia), Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (Australia), Hoftalon Hospital de Olhos (Brazil), Singapore National Eye Centre (Singapore), Rotterdam Eye Hospital (the Netherlands), UMHC Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (the United States) and St. Erik Eye Hospital (Sweden).
The Community of Practice highlighted the importance of international knowledge exchange, sharing best practices and learning from one another to improve patient care. The central theme was how collaboration between hospitals and healthcare professionals can support the development of nurse-led services, expand clinical capacity and improve access to timely treatment.
A particularly strong example of the added value of WAEH was shared by Diana Malata, who explained how international collaboration helped bring nurse-led corneal cross-linking to hospitals beyond her own. After learning from Moorfields Eye Hospital when establishing the service in Dublin, Diana later shared her hospital’s experience, protocols and documentation with colleagues at Sunshine Coast Health in Australia. Through connections facilitated by WAEH, this knowledge exchange contributed to the launch of Australia’s first nurse-led corneal cross-linking service in November 2025. Her experience demonstrated how the WAEH Community of Practice goes beyond sharing knowledge: it creates connections that enable hospitals to learn from one another, adapt successful practices and ultimately improve access to patient care across different healthcare systems.
Read the full report and watch the full recording on the WAEH Community (for members only).
The Community of Practice – Nurses & Allied Health Personnel will come together again on Thursday May 27 2027 at 01.00 PM CEST.
Read more about the Communities of Practice here