Ophthalmic emergency departments currently lack an internationally validated, standardised nurse-led triage system. Most services rely on general emergency triage tools or locally developed protocols that do not adequately reflect the unique characteristics of eye emergencies, where sight-threatening conditions often require rapid intervention despite the absence of abnormal vital signs. This can lead to inconsistent prioritisation, unnecessary delays, and increased risks for patients. The project addresses this gap by developing a structured, evidence-informed triage model tailored specifically to ophthalmic emergency care.

The project will develop, implement, and evaluate a standardised nurse-led ophthalmic emergency triage protocol through a stepwise process, including assessment of current practice, co-design of a clinical decision-making algorithm, pilot implementation, and evaluation. The aim is to improve the consistency and accuracy of triage decisions, enhance patient safety and flow management, strengthen nursing clinical decision-making, and create a transferable model that can be adapted and implemented across WAEH member hospitals.

Establishing a key performance indicator (KPI) dashboard is essential for providing a clear understanding of how eye hospitals are performing, to align efforts with strategic objectives and drive continuous improvement. Having a KPI’s Dashboard for WAEH hospitals would enrich the process of benchmarking and improvement through a continuous learning process from the best practices. 

The aim of this project is therefore to develop a WAEH dashboard accessible by all WAEH members and controlled by WAEH. During the first stage of the project, the main aim of the project will be to develop a dashboard covering a small group of Clinical and/or managerial KPIs: % of IOL wastage, Endophthalmitis rate after intraocular surgery,  Reoperation rate within 30 days and Patient satisfaction score. During the second stage, the knowledge shall be transferred to other WAEH members for full implementation, which shall cover the scope of the following KPIs: Average waiting time for elective surgery, Operating room utilization rate, Hand hygiene compliance rate and Surgery cancellation rate on the day of the procedure.

The Visions App, developed by the Fondation Asile des Aveugles and the Jules Gonin Eye Hospital, is an educational mobile application that simulates how people with visual impairments perceive their environment and illustrates the visual development of children from birth to seven years of age. Available free of charge in four languages (English, French, German, Italian), the app has been widely adopted by both the public and healthcare professionals. To expand its global reach, the project seeks to overcome language barriers by enabling high-quality, medically validated translations for a broader international audience.

This project will establish a secure, collaborative platform that allows WAEH member hospitals to create, review, and validate new language versions of the Visions app. Using AI-assisted translation combined with expert medical and linguistic review, the platform will ensure scientific accuracy while making multilingual expansion more efficient and sustainable. Through collaboration between WAEH members, the initiative will improve access to visual health education, support future development of the app, and create a scalable model for maintaining multilingual medical content.

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, and its growing prevalence is placing increasing pressure on eye care services. Effective management requires the interpretation of multiple clinical assessments, yet there is currently no simple, standardised grading system that combines key indicators into a format that is easy to communicate across multidisciplinary teams. This project addresses that need by developing the WAEH Glaucoma Grading System (WAEH-GGS), a practical tool designed to support consistent communication, triage, and clinical decision-making in both traditional and virtual glaucoma care.

The project will bring together glaucoma specialists from WAEH member hospitals to establish the grading criteria through an international Delphi consensus process, followed by validation using existing patient datasets. By integrating visual field severity, OCT findings, and intraocular pressure into a single, evidence-based grading system, the WAEH-GGS aims to improve communication between healthcare professionals, support more efficient glaucoma management, and provide a globally applicable framework for modern multidisciplinary care.

Instilling eye drops is the most common method for managing eye diseases. This often requires using drops at regular intervals over a short or extended period. Thus, instilling eyedrops is a habit, like routine daily activities. When drops are not administered at the correct times, dosages, and frequencies, patients may present at emergency care clinics with red, painful eyes and suboptimal vision. Elderly patients often miss the drops because they are either unable to self-administer them correctly or forget to instil them.

The Cataract Calendar Project is an analogue-digital solution that helps to bridge this problem by providing an easy-to-use habit-tracking system integrated into the standard prescription with an optional digital component. The objective of the project is to assess the effectiveness of the Cataract Calendar in improving compliance with eye drops following cataract surgery and to evaluate the subsequent reduction in post-operative complications.

This project aims to describe the distribution of anaesthetic techniques (such as topical, intracameral, regional (peribulbar, retrobulbar, or sub-tenon’s block) and general anaesthesia) used in different ophthalmic surgeries across WAEH members. In addition, the project aims to measure and compare the cost and the pain experienced by patients during surgery to establish which techniques seem to be more appropriate for different types of surgical interventions. The present project aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the variety and distribution of anaesthetic techniques used in ophthalmic surgeries across WAEH members?
2. What is the average cost of using these techniques for different ophthalmic surgeries?
3. What is the effectiveness of each anaesthetic technique in managing pain during ophthalmic surgical interventions?
4. How much time is added to the surgical intervention when using different anaesthetic techniques?
5. Considering both cost and effectiveness, should we recommend a preferred anaesthetic technique to be used in certain types of ophthalmic surgical interventions?

The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital implemented a pilot program to address growing specialist clinic waiting lists by expanding the role of Orthoptists to co-manage selected patients typically seen by Ophthalmologists. Orthoptists conducted face-to-face assessments for Emergency Department referrals, collaborated on care planning, and supported patients’ return to primary care. The pilot achieved very high patient satisfaction and strong medical staff satisfaction, and generated significant interest when presented at the 2024 WAEH annual meeting, highlighting its potential for broader adoption.

This project builds on the pilot’s success by embedding an Allied Health co-management model within an ophthalmic specialist service, enabling Orthoptists to work at full scope while increasing Ophthalmologists’ capacity to focus on more complex patients. Further implementation work is required to scale and embed the model, with learnings that can be adopted by other services with Orthoptic and Ophthalmology workforces.

This project aims to create comprehensive, evidence-based guidelines to empower nursing and allied healthcare staff to better support visually impaired patients. By addressing gaps in communication, accessibility, and training, the guidelines will provide practical tools and strategies to enhance patient care and improve outcomes. The goal is to create a healthcare environment where visually impaired patients feel valued, understood, and supported throughout their care journey. By reducing barriers, the project also aims to increase patient satisfaction, promote independence, and ensure compliance with accessibility standards across healthcare settings.