By Rosie Wilson
The London Eye Hospital on Harley Street is calling for tighter regulations and stricter credentials for laser eye surgery, following the rise in numbers of patients who are reporting improper care. On estimate, one in twenty laser eye surgery patients suffer complications, a figure which is attributed to the lax regulations on laser eye training.
At present, all laser eye surgeons are required to be qualified doctors and to be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). However, they do not need specific training past this point to perform laser eye surgery, and although the Royal College of Ophthalmologists did introduce a certificate in laser surgery, the estimated number of surgeons who have sat the exam is a modest 47 since 2009.
And in a Which? Report from August 2014, a third of consultations provided for laser eye surgery on the High Street were deemed ‘poor’.
Bobby Qureshi, Medical Director at the London Eye Hospital, said:
“Laser eye surgeons are, at present, only required to be registered as doctors; no specialist qualifications are legally required for a laser eye procedure. And with those who trained abroad, it’s even more difficult to establish levels of expertise in specific treatments such as LASIK. This makes a central register all the more important, as it gives patients the tools to check exactly in whose hands they are putting their vision.”
“We have seen a rising number of people arriving at the London Eye Hospital who have previously been given inaccurate information or poor care at High street clinics, and we strongly believe that it is time for this industry to be taken to task.”
For more information on Bobby Qureshi and the London Eye Hospital, please click here.
