Demand for eye services rises with demographic ageing, driving greater need for uniform practices and the prioritisation of treatment. Tampere region’s new Eye Centre will be launched in Spring 2010, and the first patients will be received in January 2012.

The Eye Centre will concentrate on the examination and treatment of eye diseases currently performed at Tampere University Hospital. The Centre is designed to cope annually with 40,000 episodes of care, but the facilities are designed to adjust to patient volume. The centralisation of treatment, new methods and care practices will also improve the hospital’s prospects for scientific research cooperation with the Tampere-based Research and Development Centre for Ophthalmic Innovations, SILK.

In recent decades, ophthalmology has progressed massively. “As recently as a decade ago, there was nothing that could be done for age-related macular degeneration, but the situation is now different. Eye surgery has been revolutionised by new procedures, biomaterials and technical developments, fast and more patient-friendly cataract surgery, amongst other factors,” says Anja Tuulonen, Chief Opthalmic Physician and Director of the Pirkanmaa Hospital District’s Eye Centre project.

“Today, collapsible artificial lenses made from biomaterials are used in cataract surgery. This means the operation can be carried out through a small incision and the patients recover quickly. Thick cataract lenses are a thing of the past, and even glasses aren’t always necessary. Viscoelastic substances – which are also biomaterials – protect the eye during surgery. Biomaterials can also be used to enhance the release of a medical substance in the eye.”

Imaging has also developed. According to Tuulonen, optical coherence tomography has raised the diagnostics of retinal diseases to an entirely new level.

“Our system continuously produces new diagnostic methods and therapies, but we can’t afford to use them all on a daily basis. This is why healthcare professionals, patients and decision-makers need to jointly agree on sufficient means when aiming to identify those at greatest risk of losing their eyesight, whilst also satisfactorily charting the eye health of others”, says Anja Tuulonen, Chief Opthalmic Physician and Director of the Pirkanmaa Hospital District’s Eye Centre project.

Tuulonen also emphasises that comprehensive scientific evidence is required when prioritising examinations and treatments. This is why the Eye Centre will undertake research into health economics and leadership in addition to research into new eye disease treatments and diagnostics.