Giving Queenslanders back their sight

Vanguard Health uses an innovative, cost-effective approach to bring ophthalmology specialists to regional and remote areas, helping thousands of Queenslanders annually to regain or maintain their sight.

The company also supports obstetric services in Mackay.

This approach, which enables patients to receive treatment within their local community, epitomises the Queensland Government’s procurement approach of ‘Putting Queenslanders first’.

Chief Executive Officer of Vanguard Health, Tim Gallagher said the model was a ‘unique’ partnership between Vanguard Health, (which undertakes program management) private and public specialists and Queensland Health’s Health Care Services.

Elders and Aboriginal Liaison Officers are also engaged in the program to ensure it is culturally appropriate.

To date, a specialist team comprising an ophthalmologist, anaesthetist, optometrist and registered nurses has undertaken 120 cataract surgeries in Weipa. A Vanguard Health program manager organises and supports the team’s visits.

Working alongside local staff, the specialist team upskills them to undertake minor procedures between specialist visits. Whilst on site the team also provide in-service training sessions.

Tim said many of their patients wouldn’t receive care without the program as they found it too intimidating to go to the city.

Yet for them, he said 'Cataract surgery is immediately life changing.'

National Manager of Surgical Services, Jennifer Meier recounted the change to an artist’s life after receiving cataract surgery in one eye.

'He couldn’t count his fingers in front of his eyes and had lost his livelihood as a painter. After the cataract surgery, he went out that night and could read the menu. Now he’s painting again,' she said.

At the Rockhampton Hospital, Vanguard Health has provided more than 5,000 occasions of service since April 2022, including intravitreal injections and eye surgery. An ophthalmologist is flown in weekly to work alongside local hospital staff in the hospital's ophthalmology outpatient, intravitreal injections (IVI) clinic and in theatre. Vanguard Health also employs a local program manager to support the program.

Local services mean patients don’t need to travel hundreds of kilometres for treatment; the Rockhampton program alone saves the Patient Travel and Subsidy Scheme up to $10.5m annually.

Vanguard Health sponsored free outpatient ‘on-country’ services by an ophthalmologist at the Woorabinda Aboriginal Health Services. It also sponsors a young person through a scholarship with the Yalari Foundation.

Vanguard Health’s work puts Queenslanders first by facilitating care to those in need within their own community, transferring knowledge and skills to local medical staff, maintaining local employment and prioritising spending with local suppliers (including hospitality, car hire and accommodation).