An NHS Scotland centre of excellence is delivering some 30% of the country’s cataract surgeries ‘thanks to a simple, but hugely effective change in approach,’ says a formal health service partner

The Clydebank-based NHS Golden Jubilee Eye Centre has performed nearly 55,000 procedures since opening in November 2020 — and it continues to exceed its own high yardstick with 11,719 patients treated in 2024/2025 alone.

Year on year, this equates to a significant rise of almost 3,000 procedures — “a staggering feat,” according to InnoScot Health.

Its Innovation Commercialisation Manager Frances Ramsay lauded that performance, stating: “We believe that the country’s expert ophthalmologists, alongside those in support roles, are best placed to identify unmet medical needs and bottlenecks, and how to solve them.

“They know where innovative thinking can prove most effective — and so it has proven with the NHS Golden Jubilee Eye Centre delivering a record number of surgeries, in turn helping to meet increased demand.

“The country’s first NHS Scotland National Treatment Centre (NTC) has achieved this through a relatively simple but hugely effective theatre design where patients are prepped in one theatre while surgery is completed in another, delivering a more continuous flow which maximises facilities.

“No new tech, just smarter thinking to make best use of what’s available to produce a staggering feat. It is timely too against a backdrop of ever-increasing cataract surgery demand over the next two decades.”

Caroline Handley, Deputy Director of National Elective Services at NHS Golden Jubilee, said: "Ophthalmology is one of the busiest services in the NHS, responding to a mixture of ophthalmic conditions that may be sight-threatening or sight-limiting.

"The dedicated team is extremely positive and enthusiastic and works efficiently together to help deliver more timely care for the people of Scotland."

The centre’s innovative thinking does not end there — the Ophthalmology Unit has continued to expand over the years to treat more patients from across the country and is currently working to expand its successful training programme and support the next generation of cataract surgeons.

InnoScot Health recognises that ophthalmic innovators may find the prospect of developing new ideas daunting amid day to day demands on their time.

Frances continued: “InnoScot Health could therefore be the right collaborative partner to help them strike the right balance and take forward their great ophthalmic idea at an opportune time.

“New ophthalmic facilities continue to be introduced across Scotland, inspiring innovative approaches — but existing facilities can be just as much of a fertile ground for encouraging new, more efficient ways of working.”

NHS Tayside’s ophthalmology service was able to significantly increase the number of cataract surgical procedures it could complete daily thanks to a similar ground-breaking approach to carrying out simultaneous bilateral surgery on patients with cataracts in both eyes.

The team sped up its theatre model by introducing a double nursing team working on a ‘tag team’ basis to support the surgeon, in turn cutting down time in between patients.

InnoScot Health is supporting NHS Scotland staff to innovate in ophthalmology. With its dedicated Ophthalmology Innovation Call, it is specifically encouraging the workforce to develop new ideas to help improve eye conditions — a priority area for the health service.

Over the past 23 years, InnoScot Health has had a strong record in this area. It has supported and worked with NHS innovators on ophthalmic innovations including Peekaboo Vision, an app created by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde; Multifocal Retinal Imager, developed in collaboration with Wideblue; and the iGrading platform, a diabetic retinopathy screening tool developed alongside NHS Grampian and the University of Aberdeen.