Royal Eye Infirmary starts its move to Derriford Hospital

It's the end of an era for the Royal Eye Infirmary as it starts its move to Derriford Hospital.

The Royal Eye Infirmary in Mutley was opened by Lady Mary Parker on Wednesday 30 October 1901. It cost £12,015 to erect the building and a further £1,680 to furnish it and is a far cry from the £5 million invested in the new state-of-the art ophthalmology facilities at Derriford Hospital.

The move will involve relocating nearly 100 staff, along with all the necessary equipment with the first operations scheduled next week.

The new REI will comprise a 60 room Ophthalmology unit with an outpatient department, urgent care and a dispensing optician across level 3 and two day-case unit theatres on level 7.

Sue Bullock, Theatre Manager at the REI says there are mixed reactions about the move: “People have been here a long time, we will all feel very sad to move from here and it will be a sad day when we lock the door finally but I think we’re all very excited.

“I’ve now spent 20 years at the old REI and finally we’re moving up and things are state-of-the art and hopefully we will be much more efficient here without having to put up with the trials of the old building.”

These thoughts are echoed by Consultant Ophthalmologist Kwabena Frimpong-Ansah, “I can’t wait to move. As we get closer to that point you get more and more aware of the deficiencies that we have here compared to the new site so we just can’t wait to get there now. It will be interesting to see how things go but we are definitely looking forward to it.

“Many members of staff have spent virtually the whole of their careers working here so it will be sad to move, there’s no doubt about that but it’s not the first time that this institution has moved, I think this is probably about our third or fourth premises over the years since 1821. We will move into the new location and make it work for us.”

Denise Langdon, Ward Sister who started at the REI in 1986 is just one of several staff members with a long service record at the site, “I’m very sad to leave the old eye infirmary, I’ve been there a long time and I’ve seen a lot of changes, both in the way we’ve treated patients and also the way the inside of the eye infirmary has changed to adapt for that. It’s a lovely old building but at Derriford it’s going to be modern, clean and all on one site which is quite nice as well.

With 20 years of service at the old REI Sue Bullock is more than aware that the building is no longer fit for purpose: “I quite frequently come in and the roof has leaked or the lift doesn’t work. If a patient needs to go from outpatient to outpatients 2 we have to take them outside if they are in a wheelchair, even if it’s raining or snowing. We’ve only got the spiral staircase and we’ve got an old lift which is quite heavy to use and we have to assist patients. It was great in its time, when it was built but it just doesn’t fulfil the requirements that we need now.”

The move to Derriford Hospital started on Tuesday 22 January with the first fully operational day scheduled for Wednesday 30 January.