Newmedica’s surgical success rates significantly outperform national average

Newmedica has shared its results for more than 25,000 cataract operations with the National Ophthalmology Database (NOD) for the first time.

The data will be made publicly available on the online NOD, which is compiled by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, alongside data from NHS Trusts in England and Wales.

The NOD is the industry’s quality assurance measure of cataract surgery, which is the most frequently performed procedure in the NHS.

Newmedica, one of the leading providers of NHS-funded ophthalmology services in England, submitted its data to enable members of the public to see for themselves the high level of success rates of the clinics in their area.

Tim Manners, Newmedica’s Medical Director, said: ‘We’re delighted to be joining this national audit and demonstrating our record of successful surgery outcomes.

‘We pride ourselves on taking all risk levels of surgery that can be delivered under local anaesthesia in the community, and this backs up our patient feedback with hard data on the excellent work our surgeons are delivering.’

The NOD database does not hold any patient identifiable data. However, it does use a unique ID for each patient so that data from multiple visits can be matched to the correct patient record.

Data submitted by Newmedica shows that its number of surgery complications is well below the national rate.

Tim added: ‘The data we’ve submitted to the NOD runs from Sept 2019, with all sites where our own surgeons operate represented.

‘We expect NOD to publish publicly accessible posterior capsule rupture (PCR) rates for all our services and surgeons. This is considered to be a surrogate benchmark of surgical expertise.

‘Our own data shows we deliver surgery with a PCR rate varying from 0.1% to 0.57% in our services, with an overall rate (unadjusted for risk) of 0.31%.

‘All our services are well below the consultant-delivered national PCR rate of 0.9% published by NOD in its 2020 report.’

Newmedica was started more than 10 years ago, enabling everyone to access world-class treatment for advanced eye conditions, without unnecessary delay or worry.

The organisation’s clinics across the country offer a range of specialist eye-care services, including glaucoma management and cataract surgery.

Clinics provide services for NHS CCGs, NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts, as well as other providers of NHS-funded services – caring for more than 120,000 patients a year.

The NOD is available at https://www.nodaudit.org.uk/