KEEP a lookout for a new mobile eye clinic in Okehampton which will be visiting Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital patients in their home towns across Devon.

The RD&E NHS Foundation Trust has invested £300,000 in this initiative which will increase the number of hospital eye unit patients being looked after each year from 3,500 to about 5,000.

The mobile clinic will be at Simmons Park, Okehampton, all day on Tuesday, November 2 and Thursday, November 18.

This is a first for the RD&E West of England Eye Unit which has served the community for more than 200 years. It is also a first for three members of the specialist nursing team — Jane Kingett, Rachel Garratt and Jess Sanders — who all volunteered to train for their HGV licence so they can drive the 12-tonne mobile clinic.

Glaucoma nurse specialist Jane Kingett said: 'The business case for the mobile eye clinic explored a number of options.

'We ruled out holding the clinics in community hospitals because expensive specialist equipment would not have been used for the rest of the month.

'Employing a driver meant they wouldn't have had any duties when we were parked up and holding the clinic. I saw no reason why we couldn't drive the truck ourselves and the trust paid for our HGV training to achieve this solution.

'We know that our patients will be very appreciative of us taking the service to them and it will have real benefits back at the main eye unit, freeing up appointments for other patients.

The towns to be visited by the mobile eye clinic are Okehampton, Crediton, Honiton, Cullompton, Dawlish, Exmouth and Exeter.

Glaucoma is the name given to a group of eye conditions in which the optic nerve is damaged. It affects 2% to 4% of people aged more than 40. Glaucoma patients need lifelong regular monitoring so that treatment can be changed accordingly. Failure to treat glaucoma can cost eyesight.