Released 18 June 2024
Request:
Please tell me about your Cataract and Vitrectomy surgery in years 2022 & 2023
- How many pars planar vitrectomy surgical procedures were carried out in the years 2022 and 2023
- When will the current Phaco equipment and Vitreo Retinal equipment contracts expire?
- How many vitrectomy machines do you have and which model? 5 Machines –
- How many Phaco emulsification machines do you have and which model?
- What is the age of your vitrectomy and phaco machines respectively?
- How many phaco handpieces do you have?
- When do you plan to buy or trial new phaco or vitrectomy equipment?
- Who is the procurement category manager for ophthalmology?
- What was the total annual spend on your Vitrectomy packs in 2022 and 2023 ?
- What was the annual volume of vitrectomy packs in 2022 and 2023
- What level of maintenance cover is provided for your Vitreo Retinal equipment?
- Who is the clinical lead for ophthalmology?
- What brand of microscopes do you have in your Eye Theatres?
- What IOLs do you use for cataract surgery and when is the IOL contract due to expire?
- Who are the VR Consultants and VR Fellows in the ophthalmology department ?
Information disclosed:
1. The Trust performed 1,927 pars planar vitrectomy surgical procedures during calendar years 2022 and 2023.
2. Phaco contract expiry is 2026; VR contract expiry is 2027. Please note both contracts have a 1 year extension option.
3. The Trust has 2 Alcon machines which are 5-10 years old and 3 Bausch and Lomb machines aged 2,7 and 10 years old.
4.The Trust has 3 Alcon machines, all of which are approximately 8 years old.
5. Please see questions 3 and 4 for age information.
6. The Trust currently has 100 phaco handsets across its hospitals.
7. A date is not currently known; this information is therefore not held by the Trust and not available under the terms of the Act at this time.
8. As is the case for most NHS organisations, we are not of the view that it is appropriate to routinely release the names and contact details of our staff into the public domain through the FOIA. This is to safeguard our staff from companies that may misuse this information.
Exempt under section 40(2) [personal information] exemption of the Act.
It is important to note that the Trust and its commissioning partners are required to follow very specific rules when procuring equipment or services. It will be therefore of little benefit to contact our staff directly about such opportunities. Information about procurement and tendering can be found on our website.
To contact the Procurement Service, please email.
9. This information is considered commercially sensitive and therefore exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) [commercial interest] exemption of the FOIA.
Since the Trust is disclosing the number of packs purchased under question 10, should we also disclose the amount paid it would allow competitors to our current supplier to calculate a cost per unit.
10. The Trust purchased 42 Vitrectomy packs in 2022 and 2023.
11. The Vitreo Retinal equipment is currently under a full maintenance contract.
12. This information is exempt under section 40(2) [personal information] exemption, please see question 8 above for additional information.
13. The Trust has Carl Zeiss and Leica microscopes in our eye theatres.
14. The Trust uses Rayner IOLs for cataract surgery. We currently have two contracts in place, one covering Sussex Eye Hospital, Brighton which expires in August 2024 and one covering St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester and Southlands Hospital, Shoreham-by-Sea which expires in April 2026.
15. This information is exempt under section 40(2) [personal information] exemption, please see question 8 above for additional information.